INTERACTING BINARIES WITH ECCENTRIC ORBITS. II. SECULAR ORBITAL EVOLUTION DUE TO NON-CONSERVATIVE MASS TRANSFER

Journal Article · Thu Sep 10 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/702/2/1387; COUNTRY OF INPUT: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)· OSTI ID:21335998

Sepinsky, J F ^[1]; Willems, B; Kalogera, V; Rasio, F A ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics and Electrical Engineerings, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA 18510 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 (United States)

We investigate the secular evolution of the orbital semimajor axis and eccentricity due to mass transfer in eccentric binaries, allowing for both mass and angular momentum loss from the system. Adopting a delta function mass transfer rate at the periastron of the binary orbit, we find that, depending on the initial binary properties at the onset of mass transfer, the orbital semimajor axis and eccentricity can either increase or decrease at a rate linearly proportional to the magnitude of the mass transfer rate at periastron. The range of initial binary mass ratios and eccentricities that lead to increasing orbital semimajor axes and eccentricities broadens with increasing degrees of mass loss from the system and narrows with increasing orbital angular momentum loss from the binary. Comparison with tidal evolution timescales shows that the usual assumption of rapid circularization at the onset of mass transfer in eccentric binaries is not justified, irrespective of the degree of systemic mass and angular momentum loss. This work extends our previous results for conservative mass transfer in eccentric binaries and can be incorporated into binary evolution and population synthesis codes to model non-conservative mass transfer in eccentric binaries.

• OSTI ID: 21335998
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 702; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
DELTA FUNCTION
EVOLUTION
MASS
MASS TRANSFER
ORBITAL ANGULAR MOMENTUM
ORBITS
STARS