Colliding Winds in Low-Mass Binary Star Systems: wind interactions and implications for habitable planets

Abstract

Context. In binary star systems, the winds from the two components impact each other, leading to strong shocks and regions of enhanced density and temperature. Potentially habitable circumbinary planets must continually be exposed to these interactions regions. Aims. We study, for the first time, the interactions between winds from low-mass stars in a binary system, to show the wind conditions seen by potentially habitable circumbinary planets. Methods. We use the advanced 3D numerical hydrodynamic code Nurgush to model the wind interactions of two identical winds from two solar mass stars with circular orbits and a binary separation of 0.5 AU. As input into this model, we use a 1D hydrodynamic simulation of the solar wind, run using the Versatile Advection Code. We derive the locations of stable and habitable orbits in this system to explore what wind conditions potentially habitable planets will be exposed to during their orbits. Results. Our wind interaction simulations result in the formation of two strong shock waves separated by a region of enhanced density and temperature. The wind-wind interaction region has a spiral shape due to Coriolis forces generated by the orbital motions of the two stars. The stable and habitable zone in this system extends from approximately 1.4 AU to 2.4 AU. (TRUNCATED)

15 pages, 11 figures, to be published in A&A

References in corpus (37)

• Habitable Zones Around Main-Sequence Stars: New Estimates
• Kepler-16: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet
• Habitable Zones Around Main-Sequence Stars: Dependence on Planetary Mass
• The Transiting Circumbinary Planets Kepler-34 and Kepler-35
• New Mass Loss Measurements from Astrospheric Lyman-alpha Absorption
• A spectroscopic survey on the multiplicity of high-mass stars
• Stellar Multiplicity and the IMF: Most Stars Are Single
• The empirical metallicity dependence of the mass-loss rate of O- and early B-type stars
• A dusty pinwheel nebula around the massive star WR 104
• Kepler-413b: a slightly misaligned, Neptune-size transiting circumbinary planet
• Origin and Loss of nebula-captured hydrogen envelopes from "sub"- to "super-Earths" in the habitable zone of Sun-like stars
• High resolution radio observations of the colliding-wind binary WR140
• 3D Models of Radiatively Driven Colliding Winds In Massive O+O Star Binaries: I. Hydrodynamics
• The prototype colliding-wind pinwheel WR 104
• Probing the Blow-Off Criteria of Hydrogen-Rich "Super-Earths"
• 3D models of radiatively driven colliding winds in massive O+O star binaries - III. Thermal X-ray emission
• Calculating the Habitable Zone of Binary Star Systems I: S-Type Binaries
• Calculating the Habitable Zone of Binary Star Systems II: P-Type Binaries
• Constraining the Absolute Orientation of Eta Carinae's Binary Orbit: A 3-D Dynamical Model for the Broad [Fe III] Emission
• On the Habitable Zones of Circumbinary Planetary Systems
• Stellar wind interaction and pick-up ion escape of the Kepler-11 "super-Earths"
• An Analytic Method to determine Habitable Zones for S-Type Planetary Orbits in Binary Star Systems
• XUV exposed, non-hydrostatic hydrogen-rich upper atmospheres of terrestrial planets II: Hydrogen coronae and ion escape
• The Independency of Stellar Mass Loss Rates on stellar X-ray Luminosity and Activity Level based on Solar X-ray flux and Solar Wind Observations
• Circumstellar Habitable Zones of Binary Star Systems in the Solar Neighborhood
• S-Type and P-Type Habitability in Stellar Binary Systems: A Comprehensive Approach. I. Method and Applications
• A phase-resolved XMM-Newton Campaign on the Colliding Wind Binary HD 152248
• High resolution numerical simulations of unstable colliding stellar winds
• Assessing Circumbinary Habitable Zones using Latitudinal Energy Balance Modelling
• Habitable Zones with Stable Orbits for Planets around Binary Systems
• Effect of the Coriolis Force on the Hydrodynamics of Colliding Wind Binaries
• Suppression of X-rays from radiative shocks by their thin-shell instability
• Colliding Stellar Wind Models with Nonequilibrium Ionization: X-rays from WR 147
• Oscillations in the Habitable Zone around Alpha Centauri B
• Rotational Synchronization May Enhance Habitability for Circumbinary Planets: Kepler Binary Case Studies
• A Study of an Outburst in the Classical Symbiotic Star Z And in a Colliding-Wind Model
• Formation of Accretion Disks in Close-Binary Systems with Magnetic Fields

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Evaluating Galactic Habitability Using High Resolution Cosmological Simulations of Galaxy Formation
• Modification of the radioactive heat budget of Earth-like exoplanets by the loss of primordial atmospheres
• Eta-Earth Revisited II: Deriving a Maximum Number of Earth-like Habitats in the Galactic Disk
• Habitability properties of circumbinary planets
• Stellar activity and planetary atmosphere evolution in tight binary star systems
• Orbital evolution of potentially habitable planets of tidally interacting binary stars
• Hydrodynamical simulations of wind interaction in spider systems : A step toward understanding transitional millisecond pulsars
• Simulating the interaction of a non-magnetized planet with the stellar wind produced by a sun-like star using the FLASH Code