Gone with the wind: the impact of wind mass transfer on the orbital evolution of AGB binary systems

Abstract

In low-mass binary systems, mass transfer is likely to occur via a slow and dense stellar wind when one of the stars is in the AGB phase. Observations show that many binaries that have undergone AGB mass transfer have orbital periods of 1-10 yr, at odds with the predictions of binary population synthesis models. We investigate the mass-accretion efficiency and angular-momentum loss via wind mass transfer in AGB binary systems. We use these quantities to predict the evolution of the orbit. We perform 3D hydrodynamical simulations of the stellar wind lost by an AGB star using the AMUSE framework. We approximate the thermal evolution of the gas by imposing a simple effective cooling balance and we vary the orbital separation and the velocity of the stellar wind. We find that for wind velocities $v_{\infty }$ larger than the relative orbital velocity of the system $v_{\mathrm{orb}}$ the flow is described by the Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton approximation and the angular-momentum loss is modest, leading to an expansion of the orbit. For low wind velocities an accretion disk is formed around the companion and the accretion efficiency as well as the angular-momentum loss are enhanced, implying that the orbit will shrink. We find that the transfer of angular momentum from the orbit to the outflowing gas occurs within a few orbital separations from the center of mass of the binary. Our results suggest that the orbital evolution of AGB binaries can be predicted as a function of the ratio $v_{\infty }/v_{\mathrm{orb}}$. Our results can provide insight into the puzzling orbital periods of post-AGB binaries and suggest that the number of stars entering into the common-envelope phase will increase. The latter can have significant implications for the expected formation rates of the end products of low-mass binary evolution, such as cataclysmic binaries, type Ia supernova and double white-dwarf mergers. [ABRIDGED]

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in A&A, 17 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. Abstract abridged due to arXiv requirements

References in corpus (38)

• Evolution of binary stars and the effect of tides on binary populations
• A Comprehensive Study of Binary Compact Objects as Gravitational Wave Sources: Evolutionary Channels, Rates, and Physical Properties
• Formation of Double Neutron Star Systems
• The Evolution of Cataclysmic Variables as Revealed by their Donor Stars
• Merging binary black holes formed through chemically homogeneous evolution in short-period stellar binaries
• The Evolution of Compact Binary Star Systems
• A Wide Symbiotic Channel to Type Ia Supernovae
• A Review of Bondi--Hoyle--Lyttleton Accretion
• The Binary Frequency Among Carbon-Enhanced, s-Process Rich, Metal-Poor Stars
• A new radiative cooling curve based on an up to date plasma emission code
• Multi-physics simulations using a hierarchical interchangeable software interface
• The Astrophysical Multipurpose Software Environment
• Forming short-period Wolf-Rayet X-ray binaries and double black holes through stable mass transfer
• Double neutron stars: merger rates revisited
• A multiphysics and multiscale software environment for modeling astrophysical systems
• Wind Roche-lobe overflow: Application to carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars
• The role of binaries in the enrichment of the early Galactic halo. III. Carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars -- CEMP-s stars
• Binary planetary nebulae nuclei towards the Galactic bulge. II. A penchant for bipolarity and low-ionisation structures
• BRIDGE: A Direct-tree Hybrid N-body Algorithm for Fully Self-consistent Simulations of Star Clusters and their Parent Galaxies
• Wind accretion in binary stars II. Accretion rates
• Mass transfer from a giant star to a main sequence companion and its contribution to long-orbital-period blue stragglers
• Binary properties of CH and Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor stars
• Mass Transfer and Disc Formation in AGB Binary Systems
• Numerical Simulations of Wind Accretion in Symbiotic Binaries
• White-Dwarf Kicks and Implications for Barium Stars
• Periodic bursts of Star Formation in Irregular Galaxies
• N-body Integrators with Individual Time Steps from Hierarchical Splitting
• Carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars: a window on AGB nucleosynthesis and binary evolution. II. Statistical analysis of a sample of 67 CEMP-$s$ stars
• Carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars: a window on AGB nucleosynthesis and binary evolution. I. Detailed analysis of 15 binary stars with known orbital periods
• Wind accretion in binary stars - I. Mass accretion ratio
• Predicting the Fate of Binary Red Giants Using the Observed Sequence E Star Population: Binary Planetary Nebula Nuclei and Post-RGB Stars
• Three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of mass transfer in binary systems by a free wind
• Modelling the observed properties of carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars using binary population synthesis
• The Formation and Evolution of Wind-Capture Disks In Binary Systems
• Three-dimensional hydrodynamical models of wind and outburst-related accretion in symbiotic systems
• Wind-accelerated orbital evolution in binary systems with giant stars
• Face-on accretion onto a protoplanetary disc
• How much mass and angular momentum can the progenitors of carbon-enriched stars accrete?

Cited by in corpus (38)

• Pre-supernova evolution, compact object masses and explosion properties of stripped binary stars
• The evolution of stellar triples: The most common evolutionary pathways
• (Sub)stellar companions shape the winds of evolved stars
• Orbital properties of binary post-AGB stars
• Evolution and Mass Loss of Cool Ageing Stars: a Daedalean Story
• Slowly, slowly in the wind: 3D hydrodynamical simulations of wind mass transfer and angular-momentum loss in AGB binary systems
• Binary Stars in the New Millennium
• Formation of wind-captured discs in Supergiant X-ray binaries : consequences for Vela X-1 and Cygnus X-1
• Binary Interaction Dominates Mass Ejection in Classical Novae
• A 3D radiation-hydrodynamic AGB binary model
• Understanding the orbital periods of CEMP-s stars
• SPH modelling of companion-perturbed AGB outflows including a new morphology classification scheme
• The eccentric behaviour of windy binary stars
• Binary evolution along the Red Giant Branch with BINSTAR: The barium star perspective
• Templates of binary-induced spiral-shell patterns around mass-losing post-main sequence stars
• High-resolution observations of the symbiotic system R Aqr. Direct imaging of the gravitational effects of the secondary on the stellar wind
• Influence of a mass transfer stability criterion on double white dwarf populations
• A pre-explosion extended effervescent zone around core collapse supernova progenitors
• SPH modelling of wind-companion interactions in eccentric AGB binary systems
• A gap in the double white dwarf separation distribution caused by the common-envelope evolution: astrometric evidence from Gaia
• The formation of barium giants via mass accretion in binary systems
• Impact of HI cooling and study of accretion disks in AGB wind-companion smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations
• Blue Stragglers and Friends: Initial Evolutionary Pathways in Close Low-Mass Binaries: Literature Review
• 3D simulations of AGB stellar winds -- II. Ray-tracer implementation and impact of radiation on the outflow morphology
• Unexpected Short-Period Variability in Dwarf Carbon Stars from the Zwicky Transient Facility
• A detailed view on the circumstellar environment of the M-type AGB star EP Aquarii I. High-resolution ALMA and SPHERE observations
• Simulating stellar winds in AMUSE
• Wide binary pulsars from electron-capture supernovae
• Dynamical Effects of Colliding Outflows in Binary Systems
• Astrophysics with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
• Spectral analysis of the barium central star of the planetary nebula Hen 2-39
• Gaia Barium Dwarfs and Their Ostensibly Ordinary Counterparts
• New Clues to the Evolution of Dwarf Carbon Stars From Their Variability and X-ray Emission
• SPH modelling of AGB wind morphology in hierarchical triple systems \& comparison to observation of R Aql
• A companion star launching jets in the wind acceleration zone of a giant star
• The Signature of a Windy Radio Supernova Progenitor in a Binary System
• Raman-scattered O VI features in the symbiotic nova RR Telescopii
• Impact of a binary companion in AGB outflows on CO spectral lines