scholarly journals Late Stages of Close Binary Systems

1976 ◽  
Vol 73 ◽  
pp. 35-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. P. J. Van Den Heuvel

The expected final evolution of massive close binaries (CB) in case B is reviewed. Primary stars with masses ≳ 12–15 M⊙ are, after loosing most of their envelope by mass exchange, expected to explode as supernovae, leaving behind a neutron star or a black hole.Conservative close binary evolution (i.e. without a major loss of mass and angular momentum from the system during the first stage of mass transfer) is expected to occur if the initial mass ratio q0 = M20/M10 is ≳ 0.3. In this case the primary star will be the less massive component when it explodes, and the system is almost never disrupted by the explosion. The explosion is followed by a long-lasting quiet stage (106–107 yr) when the system consists of a massive main-sequence star and an inactive compact companion. After the secondary has left the main-sequence and becomes a blue supergiant with a strong stellar wind, the system becomes a massive X-ray binary for a short while (2–5 × 104 yr).The numbers of Wolf-Rayet binaries and massive X-ray binaries observed within 3 kpc of the Sun are in reasonable agreement with the numbers expected on the basis of conservative CB evolution, which implies that several thousands of massive main-sequence stars with a quiet compact companion should exist in the Galaxy. About a dozen of these systems must be present among the stars visible to the naked eye. During the second stage of mass exchange, large loss of mass and angular momentum from the system is expected, leading to a rapid shrinking of the orbit. The supernova explosion of the secondary will in most cases disrupt the system. If it remains bound, the final system will consist of two compact stars and may resemble the binary pulsar PSR 1913 + 16.In systems with q0 ≲ 0.2–0.3 large mass loss from the system is expected during the first stage of mass exchange. The exploding primary will then be more massive than its unevolved companion and the first supernova explosion disrupts the system in most cases. In the rare cases that it remains bound, the system will have a large runaway velocity and, after a very long (108–109 yr) inactive stage evolves into a low-mass X-ray binary, possibly resembling Her X-1.

1980 ◽  
Vol 88 ◽  
pp. 323-327
Author(s):  
Daiichiro Sugimoto ◽  
Shigeki Miyaji

Recently, masses of component stars have been determined for many X-ray close binaries (XCBS). For relatively well determined sources the masses of X-ray components are plotted against the masses of their optical components in Figure 1 and their orbital periods are summarized in Table 1 (Cowley 1977; Bradt, Doxsey, and Jernigan 1979; Wheeler 1978; and references quoted therein). Cowley (1977) prepared a table and noticed that there are two distinct types of XCBS. The Type I XCBS consists of an X-ray star and an early type star more massive than about 12 M⊙. On the contrary, the Type II XCBS consists of an X-ray star and a star less massive than about 2 M⊙. As seen in Figure 1, there is not any distinct intermediate type for which the mass of the optical component lies in the range of about 2-12 M⊙. The aim of the present paper lies in interpreting the origin of these types of XCBS on the bases of the conditions for the formation of a neutron star and of mass exchange in close binary systems.


Author(s):  
Ryosuke Hirai ◽  
Ilya Mandel

Abstract We explore the effect of anisotropic wind driving on the properties of accretion onto black holes (BHs) in close binaries. We specifically focus on line-driven winds, which are common in high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). In close binary systems, the tidal force from the companion star can modify the wind structure in two different ways. One is the reduction of wind terminal velocity due to the weaker effective surface gravity. The other is the reduction in mass flux due to gravity darkening (GD). We incorporate these effects into the so-called CAK theory in a simple way and investigate the wind flow around the accretor on the orbital scale. We find that a focused accretion stream is naturally formed when the Roche lobe filling factor is ${\gtrsim}0.8$ –0.9, analogous to that of wind Roche lobe overflow, but only when the velocity reduction is taken into account. The formation of a stream is necessary to bring in sufficient angular momentum to form an accretion disc around the BH. GD effects reduce the amount of accreted angular momentum, but not enough to prevent the formation of a disc. Based on these results, we expect there to be a discrete step in the observability of HMXBs depending on whether the donor Roche lobe filling factor is below or above ${\sim}$ 0.8–0.9.


1989 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 234-234
Author(s):  
Joel A. Eaton

Binaries with very wide spearations are thought to evolve to small separations through a catastrophic form of mass exchange/loss known as common-envelope evolution. The theory of this process is fairly well developed, but proper tests remain elusive. Simply put, the theory argues that the rapidly shrinking Roche lobe of the mass losing giant will strip away the giant's main-sequence companion. Loss of mass from the system during the process carries away orbital angular momentum, thereby strengthening the effect.


1988 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 217-218
Author(s):  
Masatoshi Kitamura ◽  
Yasuhisa Nakamura

The ordinary semi-detached close binary system consists of a main-sequence primary and subgiant (or giant) secondary component where the latter fills the Roche lobe. From a quantitative analysis of the observed ellipticity effect, Kitamura and Nakamura (1986) have deduced empirical values of the exponent of gravity-darkening for distorted main-sequence stars in detached systems and found that the empirical values of the exponent for these stars with early-type spectra are close to the unity, indicating that the subsurface layers of early-main sequence stars in close binaries are actually in radiative equilibrium. The exponent of gravity-darkening can be defined by H ∝ gα with H as the bolonetric surface brightness and g as the local gravity on the stellar surface.


1976 ◽  
Vol 73 ◽  
pp. 27-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. De Loore ◽  
J. P. De Greve

It is well known that the outcome of case B evolution of the primaries of massive close binary systems (M1 ≥ 9 M⊙) depends on the initial primary mass. The most massive primaries finally ignite carbon, form iron cores and presumably end in a supernova explosion, whereas the lighter ones presumably end as white dwarfs, without carbon ignition. This paper derives an estimate of the mass boundary separating these two kinds of evolution.As an example of the first case, the evolution of a 20 M⊙ + 14 M⊙ system was computed; after the mass exchange, the primary star (with M = 5.43 M⊙) evolves through the helium-burning (Wolf-Rayet) stage towards a supernova explosion; finally the system evolves into an X-ray binary (BWRX-evolution).As a representative for the second case the evolution of a 10 M⊙ + 8 M⊙ system was examined. After the first stage of mass exchange, the primary (with a mass of 1.66 M⊙) approaches the helium main sequence; during later phases of helium burning the radius increases again, and a second stage of mass transfer starts; after this the star (with a mass of 1.14 M⊙) again evolves towards the left in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and ends as a white dwarf (BSWD-evolution). A system of 15 M⊙ + 8 M⊙ is found to evolve very similar to the 20 M⊙ + 14 M⊙ system. The mass Mu, separating the two types of evolution, must therefore be situated between 10 and 15 solar masses. An initial chemical composition X = 0.70, Z = 0.03 was used for all systems.


1980 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 857-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Hjellming

Excluding single stars, star systems with very strong X-ray sources, thermally radiating winds and circumstellar envelopes, marginal detections, and binary systems that are far from “normal”, there are about 21 close binary systems that show clear signs of stellar activity in the form of variable radio emission. Sixteen of these are RS CVn binaries. Typical events are smoothly varying with time scales of from a few hours to a few days. In the RS CVn binaries UX Ari and V711 Tau variable circular polarization is sometimes observed, with occasional appearence of components with only one frequency and one circular polarization, part of which shows “oscillations” with “periods” of about 4 minutes. Different stars and different events typically have inferred electron energies of about 5 MeV and inferred magnetic fields of 1 - 30 Gauss. The radiation mechanisms are usually assumed to be synchrotron or gyro-synchrotron; however, radiation from plasma processes cannot be ruled out in some cases, and it will be very important to establish or rule out this possibility. Most radio binary events show clear signs of self-absorption, so the variations appear most strongly at the higher frequencies. Typical rise times of events are about 30% of decay times. Maximum radio luminosities range from 1013 to a few times 1017 ergs s-1 Hz-1. Most radio flares are mainly at cm-wavelenghts and have observable and inferred energies 104 - 106 times those for the largest solar events, a scaling which is similar to that for X-ray emission measures of these stars when compared to solar coronal loop emission measures. Most importantly, VLBI measurements of Algol indicate that the sizes of the radio emitting regions for very strong events are of the order of 2 - 3 stellar radii. Single stars appear to be active at radio wavelengths much less commonly than close binary systems. In many cases this may be due to the way dynamo action and convection near the surface are affected by increased rotation forced by the synchronization induced by the binary system.


1982 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 403-403
Author(s):  
C. Doom ◽  
J.P. De Grève

In a recent paper (Doom and De Grève, 1981) the remaining main sequence lifetime of the mass gaining component in massive close binary systems was computed. Using results of that paper and the definition of the four important events in the evolution of a massive close binary system (RLOF(M1), RLOF(M2), SN(M1), SN(M2)), four evolutionary stages in the life of the system can be defined: OB+OB, WR+OB, c+OB (or WR+WR) and c+WR. The two possibilities for the third stage depend on the initial mass ratio of the system. The final stage c+c, is not considered here.


1980 ◽  
Vol 88 ◽  
pp. 115-121
Author(s):  
D. Vanbeveren ◽  
C. De Loore

It becomes more and more evident that for close binary evolution during Roche lobe overflow as well mass transfer as mass loss occurs. When a mass element ΔM is expelled from the primary during this phase, a fraction β is transferred to the secondary; the remaining part leaves the system. Moreover, angular momentum leaves the system, and also this fraction has to be specified; this fraction is related to a parameter α (Vanbeveren et al., 1979). For the computation of the evolution of massive close binaries also mass loss due to stellar wind of both components, prior to the Roche lobe overflow has to be taken into account. The mass loss rate Ṁ due to radiation driven stellar winds can be expressed as


1980 ◽  
Vol 88 ◽  
pp. 109-114
Author(s):  
Th.J. Van Der Linden

Numerical simulations of close binary evolution were performed for five binary systems, using a newly developed evolutionary program. The systems have masses 3+2, 4+3.2, 6+4, 9+6, 12+8 M⊙ and periods 2d, 1d78, 3d, 4d, 5d respectively. The primary component was followed from the zero-age main sequence through the mass transfer phase to core-helium burning. Special care was given to the self-consistent determination of the mass transfer rate and the detailed treatment of composition changes. After the mass transfer phase the resulting systems consist of a main sequence star with a helium star companion of mass 0.36, 0.46, 0.82, 1.48, 2.30 M⊙ for the five systems respectively. Interesting “thermal pulses” were found in the 3+2 M⊙ system at the onset of helium burning.


2003 ◽  
Vol 208 ◽  
pp. 459-460
Author(s):  
Tatsuhiro Uenishi ◽  
Ken'ichi Nomoto ◽  
Izumi Hachisu

Type Ia supernovae are very good, but not perfect, standard candles, because their observed brightness shows a little diversity. The origin of this dibersity needs to be understood for the application to cosmology.In close binary systems, a white dwarf must be rotating faster and faster as it gains angular momentum from the accretion disk. Its rapid rotation affects its final mass and strucure just before a supernova expolosion. Brightness of supernovae can be changed if mass of their progenitors have some diversity.


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