scholarly journals Evolution of Close Binary Stars: Observational Aspects

1982 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 159-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirek J. Plavec

AbstractDetached close binary systems define the main sequence band satisfactorily, but very little is known about the masses of giants and supergiants. High-dispersion IUE observations promise an improvement, since blue companions are now frequently found to late-type supergiants. The Interesting cases of μ Sagittarii and in particular of ε Aurlgae are discussed in more detail. The barium star abundance anomaly appears now to be due to mass transfer in interacting systems. The symbiotic stars are another type of binary systems containing late-type giants; several possible models for the hotter star and for the type of Interaction are discussed. The W Serpentis stars appear to be Algols in the rapid phase of mass transfer, but a possible link relating them to the symbiotics is also indicated. Evidence of hot clrcumstellar plasmas has now been found in several ordinary Algols; there may exist a smooth transition between very quiescent Algols and the W Serpentis stars. β Lyrae Is discussed in the light of new spectrophotometry results.

1982 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 129-131
Author(s):  
E.I. Popova ◽  
A.V. Tutukov ◽  
B.M. Shustov ◽  
L.R. Yungelson

About 60% of stars of the disc population in our Galaxy are close binary systems (CBS). Half of the known CBS are spectroscopic binary stars (Kraitcheva et al., 1978).To know the distribution of a correlation between the masses of CBS components and semiaxes of their orbits is necessary for the investigation of the origin and evolution of CBS. For such statistical investigations, a catalogue of CBS was compiled at the Astronomical Council. The catalogue is based on the 6th Batten catalogue (Batten, 1967), its extensions (Pedoussant and Ginestet, 1971; Pedoussant and Carquillat, 1973) and data published up to the end of 1980 (Popova et al., 1981). Now it is recorded on magnetic tape and contains data on 1041 spectroscopic binaries; 333 of them are stars with two visible spectra. The latter are mostly systems prior to mass exchange and the distribution of physical parameters in these systems reflects the distribution and presumably conditions at the time of formation. Using some assumptions, we can obtain for spectroscopic binaries masses of the components M1 and M2 (or the ratio q = M1/M2) and semiaxes of their orbits. Masses of components with the known sin i were obtained by the usual technique; when sin i was not known, masses were estimated from the spectra. We shall discuss here the distribution of CBS in the M-a plane.


Author(s):  
Zhao Guo

The study of stellar oscillations allows us to infer the properties of stellar interiors. Meanwhile, fundamental parameters such as mass and radius can be obtained by studying stars in binary systems. The synergy between binarity and asteroseismology can constrain the parameter space of stellar properties and facilitate the asteroseismic inference. On the other hand, binarity also introduces additional complexities such tides and mass transfer. From an observational perspective, we briefly review the recent advances in the study of tidal effects on stellar oscillations, focusing on upper main sequence stars (F-, A-, or OB- type). The effect can be roughly divided into two categories. The first one concerns the tidally excited oscillations (TEOs) in eccentric binaries where TEOs are mostly due to resonances between dynamical tides and gravity modes of the star. TEOs appear as orbital-harmonic oscillations on top of the eccentric ellipsoidal light curve variations (the “heartbeat” feature). The second category is regarding the self-excited oscillations perturbed by static tides in circularized and synchronized close binaries. It includes the tidal deformation of the propagation cavity and its effect on eigenfrequencies, eigenfunctions, and the pulsation alignment. We list binary systems that show these two types of tidal effect and summarize the orbital and pulsation observables. We also discuss the theoretical approaches used to model these tidal oscillations and relevant complications such as non-linear mode coupling and resonance locking. Further information can be extracted from the observations of these oscillations which will improve our understanding of tides. We also discuss the effect of mass transfer, the extreme result of tides, on stellar oscillations. We bring to the readers' attention: (1) oscillating stars undergoing mass accretion (A-, F-, and OB type pulsators and white dwarfs), for which the pulsation properties may be changed significantly by accretion; (2) post-mass transfer pulsators, which have undergone a stable or unstable Roche-Lobe overflow. These pulsators have great potential in probing detailed physical processes in stellar interiors and mass transfer, as well as in studying the binary star populations.


1981 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 431-456
Author(s):  
Mirek J. Plavec

AbstractMass outflow from interacting close binary systems, accompanied by loss of orbital angular momentum, appears to be a very important process affecting the evolution of binary stars. Together with accretion on the mass-gaining component, it is the least understood aspect of the general complex process we call “evolution with mass transfer and/or mass loss”, or, more briefly, “interaction”. It is therefore very imperative to assemble and examine all available facts or hints about mass loss.


1999 ◽  
Vol 193 ◽  
pp. 550-558
Author(s):  
J. Miguel Mas-Hesse ◽  
Miguel Cerviño

We present in this contribution our set of multi-wavelength synthesis models including the evolution of single and binary stars. The main results we have obtained can be summarized as follows: (a) massive close-binary systems will start to experience mass transfer episodes after the first 4Myr of the starburst evolution; (b) as a result of these mass transfer processes, stars of relatively low initial mass can lose completely their envelope and become a Wolf-Rayet star. In this way, the formation of WR stars is extended over longer than 15 Myr, and does not stop at 6Myr as predicted by models including only single stars; (c) WR stars can thus be coeval with red supergiants, which peak at around 10 Myr for solar metallicities; (d) the accretion of mass will originate relatively massive stars at ages for which they should have already disappeared; these stars, together with the WR stars formed in rather evolved clusters, increase the production of ionizing photons, so that the Hβ equivalent width will not drop as rapidly as predicted by models considering only individual stars; and (e) the mass transfer to compact companions will produce an additional source of high-energy radiation in the form of high-mass X-ray binaries, not predicted either by standard synthesis models.


1973 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 216-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Plavec

Several groups of close binary stars are considered in an attempt to explain their present state as a consequence of a large-scale mass transfer or mass loss in the past: Algol-like semidetached binaries, some shell stars (AX Mon), some binary X-ray sources (Cen X-3, Her X-1), the recurrent nova T CrB, helium-rich binaries v Sgr and KS Per, and the symbiotic variables.Algol-like binaries like U Sge cannot be products of a conservative case A of mass transfer; rather, mass loss from system and/or a temporary contact stage must be invoked. Nova T CrB as well as the symbiotic variables probably contain a mass-losing giant and a helium star, which again may be a product of a previous mass transfer of type B. Similarly, some of the X-ray sources may actually be binaries undergoing a second process of mass transfer. The systems v Sgr and KS Per may contain helium stars expanding to the right of the helium main sequence, while the other component may be a rather inactive main-sequence star. Some shell stars may be products of mass transfer. Mass loss from convective envelopes is also discussed.Loss of mass and of angular momentum from many binary systems must be anticipated. Behavior of the mass-accreting stars may often be decisive for the appearance and evolution of the system.


Author(s):  
K. C. Leung ◽  
D. S. Zhai ◽  
R. X. Zhang ◽  
Q. Y. Liu ◽  
J. T. Zhang ◽  
...  

1987 ◽  
Vol 93 ◽  
pp. 675-679
Author(s):  
V.G. Karetnikov

AbstractFrom the values of period changes for 6 close binary stars the mass transfer rate was calculated. Comparing these values Mt with the values of shell masses Msh, the expressionwas derived. The analysis of this expression points out the initial character of the outflow of matter, and one may determine the time interval of the substitution of the shell matter. So one may conclude that for a certain mass transfer rate, a certain amount of matter accumulates in the nearby regions of the system.


1992 ◽  
Vol 135 ◽  
pp. 146-148
Author(s):  
D.R. Gies ◽  
M.S. Wiggs

In close binary systems of O-type stars, the individual stellar winds will collide between the stars to form shock fronts (Stevens et al. 1992). Binaries with equally luminous stars will have winds of comparable strength, and the shock will occur near the mid-plane between the stars, but in binaries of unequal luminosity, the interaction will occur along a bow shock wrapped around the star with the weaker wind. The presence of the shock region can be detected through excess X-ray emission (Chlebowski & Garmany 1990), and orbital phase-related variations in the UV P Cygni lines (Shore & Brown 1988) and optical emission lines (formed in high density regions of circumstellar gas).We have begun a search for colliding winds through a study of the optical emission lines and UV P Cygni lines in four massive binaries, AO Cas (Gies & Wiggs 1991), Plaskett’s star = HD 47129 (Wiggs & Gies 1992), 29 UW CMa and ι Ori. The optical observations consist of high S/N spectra of the Hα and He I λ6678 region obtained with the University of Texas McDonald Observatory 2.1-m telescope and coudé Reticon system. The UV observations were culled from archival IUE high dispersion spectra of several P Cygni features (N V λ1240, Si IV λ1400, C IV λ1550).


1988 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 677-678
Author(s):  
James M. Nemec ◽  
Hugh C. Harris

Forty-eight blue straggler stars have been discovered in NGC 5466, the only Galactic globular cluster known to contain an anomalous Cepheid of the sort found in dwarf galaxies. The stars were identified in color-magnitude diagrams constructed from photometry of deep photographic plates taken with the Canada-France-Hawaii 3.6 m telescope (calibrated with new UBV photoelectric photometry), and from point spread function photometry of CCD frames taken with the Palomar 5 m telescope. The stars typically have magnitudes <V> ~ 19.m1 and colors <B-V> ~ 0.m2. Forty-two of the 48 stars are situated inside of R=2.5 arcmin (see Fig.1), the projected radius containing half the cluster luminosity, and only six stars are found between 2.5 and 9 arcmin. A one-sided, two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (using the CCD data) establishes at the 98% significance level that the blue stragglers are more centrally concentrated than the subgiant stars of the same magnitude. By fitting multi-component King models to the projected radial distributions (Fig.2), the mean mass of the blue stragglers is shown to be ~1.5 to two times larger than the masses of the stars that contributed the light from which the core and tidal radii were derived (i.e. M (Blue Str.)=1.3±0.3 M⊙). Because the central relaxation time for NGC 5466 is much less than the cluster age, the different radial distributions are attributed to mass segregation. A similar mass segregation is also observed in the globular cluster NGC 5053, where Nemec and Cohen (1986, in preparation) have recently identified ~30 blue stragglers. The low stellar density and small escape velocity of NGC 5466 make a recent epoch of star formation (during which the blue stragglers might have formed as massive single stars) seem unlikely. Instead, the blue stragglers probably are either close binary systems that have transferred mass, or are coalesced stars. The very low frequency of stellar collisions expected in the center of NGC 5466 suggests that the blue stragglers are primordial binary systems. The simultaneous presence in NGC 5466 of the blue stragglers and the anomalous Cepheid V19, and their relative numbers, supports the hypothesis that there is an evolutionary connection between the two types of stars. By fitting theoretical isochrones to the photographic c-m diagram, NGC 5466 is estimated to have an age of 18±3 Gyr.


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