Enhanced winds and tidal streams in massive X-ray binaries

Journal Article · Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Astrophysical Journal; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/169934· OSTI ID:5469441

Blondin, J M; Stevens, I R; Kallman, T R ^[1]

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1. Virginia, University, Charlottesville (USA) NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (USA)

The tidal effects created by the presence of a compact companion are expected to induce a stream of enhanced wind from the early-type primary star in massive X-ray binary systems. In this paper, two-dimensional gasdynamical simulations of such streams are presented. It is found that the wind enhancement is a sensitive function of the binary separation, and develops into a tidal stream as the primary approaches its critical surface. For typical system parameters, the Coriolis force deflects the stream sufficiently that it does not impact directly on the compact companion but passes behind it. The density in the stream can reach values of 20-30 times the ambient wind density, leading to strong attenuation of the X-ray flux that passes through the tidal stream, providing a possible explanation of the enhanced absorption events seen at later phases in the X-ray observations of massive X-ray binary systems such as Vela X-1. In contrast to the time-variable accretion wake, the tidal stream is relatively stationary, producing absorption features that should remain fixed from orbit to orbit. For systems with a strong tidal stream, the large asymmetry in the accreting wind results in the accretion of angular momentum of constant sign, as opposed to systems without streams, where the sign of the accreted angular momentum can change. 39 refs.

• OSTI ID: 5469441
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal; (United States), Vol. 371; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BINARY STARS
GRAVITATIONAL INTERACTIONS
STAR MODELS
X RADIATION
ACCRETION DISKS
BLACK HOLES
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
GIANT STARS
MASS
NEUTRON STARS
STELLAR WINDS
BASIC INTERACTIONS
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
INTERACTIONS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
RADIATIONS
STARS
STELLAR ACTIVITY
640102* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources