A 3D dynamical model of the colliding winds in binary systems

Abstract

We present a 3D dynamical model of the orbital induced curvature of the wind-wind collision region in binary star systems. Momentum balance equations are used to determine the position and shape of the contact discontinuity between the stars, while further downstream the gas is assumed to behave ballistically. An archimedean spiral structure is formed by the motion of the stars, with clear resemblance to high resolution images of the so-called ``pinwheel nebulae''. A key advantage of this approach over grid or smoothed particle hydrodynamic models is its significantly reduced computational cost, while it also allows the study of the structure obtained in an eccentric orbit. The model is relevant to symbiotic systems and Gamma-ray binaries, as well as systems with O-type and Wolf-Rayet stars. As an example application, we simulate the X-ray emission from hypothetical O+O and WR+O star binaries, and describe a method of ray tracing through the 3D spiral structure to account for absorption by the circumstellar material in the system. Such calculations may be easily adapted to study observations at wavelengths ranging from the radio to Gamma-ray.

16 pages, 24 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (16)

• Imaging the circumstellar envelopes of AGB stars
• Modeling interaction of relativistic and nonrelativistic winds in binary system PSR 1259-63/SS2883. I.Hydrodynamical limit
• Accretion vs colliding wind models for the gamma-ray binary LS I +61 303: an assessment
• On the formation of TeV radiation in LS 5039
• Radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray Emission Models of the Colliding Winds Binary WR 140
• TeV lightcurve of PSR B1259-63/SS2883
• The prototype colliding-wind pinwheel WR 104
• The modulation of the gamma-ray emission from the binary LS 5039
• A Clumping Independent Diagnostic of Stellar Mass-loss Rates: Rapid Clump Destruction in Adiabatic Colliding Winds
• Early-type stars in the young open cluster IC1805. II. The probably single stars HD15570 and HD15629, and the massive binary/triple system HD15558
• Colliding Stellar Wind Models with Nonequilibrium Ionization: X-rays from WR 147
• A Study of an Outburst in the Classical Symbiotic Star Z And in a Colliding-Wind Model
• Envelope density pattern around wide binary AGB stars: a dynamical model
• Modelling the Radio Light Curve of Eta Carinae
• Very Large Array Observations of Winds from Massive Stars
• 3-D SPH simulations of colliding winds in eta Carinae

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Detection of Gamma-ray Emission from the Eta-Carinae Region
• Thin shell morphology in the circumstellar medium of massive binaries
• High-Energy Variability of PSR J1311-3430
• CG X-1: an eclipsing Wolf-Rayet ULX in the Circinus galaxy
• On the origin of γ-ray emission in η Carina
• The nature of the companion in the Wolf-Rayet system EZ Canis Majoris
• Modeling Forbidden Line Emission Profiles from Colliding Wind Binaries
• The 2.35 year itch of Cygnus OB2#9 III. X-ray and radio emission analysis based on three dimensional hydrodynamical modelling
• Radio emission from colliding outflows in high-mass X-ray binaries with strongly magnetized neutron stars
• Conditions in the WR 140 wind-collision region revealed by the 1.083-micron He I line profile
• LIFELINE: The program for the simulation of the X-ray line profiles in massive colliding wind binaries
• Variable millimetre radiation from the colliding-wind binary Cyg OB2 #8A
• Galactic Sources Science With Agile: The Case Of The Carina Region