Radiating the hydrogen recombination energy during common envelope evolution

Abstract

By using the stellar evolution code MESA we show that most of the hydrogen recombination energy that is released as the envelope expands during a regular common envelope evolution (CEE), namely, the initial dynamical phase or plunge-in phase, is radiated, and hence increases substantially the stellar luminosity. Only about ten per cent of the hydrogen recombination energy might be used to remove the envelope. We show that the key property of energy transport is that when convection becomes inefficient in the outer parts of the envelope, where the ionization degree of hydrogen falls below about 30 per cent, photon diffusion becomes very efficient and removes the recombination energy. The expanding envelope absorbs most of the gravitational energy that is released by the spiraling-in process of the secondary star inside the common envelope, and so it is the hydrogen recombination energy that is behind most of the luminosity increase of the system. The recombination energy of hydrogen adds only a small fraction of the energy required to remove the common envelope, and hence does not play a significant role in the ejection of the envelope.

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, in press

References in corpus (22)

• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Convective Boundaries, Element Diffusion, and Massive Star Explosions
• The impact of companions on stellar evolution
• Common envelope ejection in massive binary stars - Implications for the progenitors of GW150914 and GW151226
• Asymmetric Accretion Flows within a Common Envelope
• Accretion in common envelope evolution
• Common envelope events with low-mass giants: understanding the transition to the slow spiral-in
• On the role of recombination in common-envelope ejections
• On the Accretion-Fed Growth of Neutron Stars During Common Envelope
• Episodic mass ejections from common-envelope objects
• Runaway Coalescence at the Onset of Common Envelope Episodes
• Efficient common-envelope ejection through dust-driven winds
• Explaining iPTF14hls as a common envelope jets supernova
• Magnetic Field Amplification During the Common Envelope Phase
• The limited role of recombination energy in common envelope removal
• Accretion Disk Assembly During Common Envelope Evolution: Implications for Feedback and LIGO Binary Black Hole Formation
• On the use of hydrogen recombination energy during common envelope events
• Self-regulating jets during the Common Envelope phase
• Energy transport by convection in the common envelope evolution
• Common envelope jets supernova (CEJSN) impostors resulting from a neutron star companion
• Energizing the last phase of common envelope removal
• The Evolution of Temperature and Bolometric Luminosity in Type-II Supernovae

Cited by in corpus (30)

• Extending Common Envelope Simulations from Roche Lobe Overflow to the Nebular Phase
• Companion-launched jets and their effect on the dynamics of common envelope interaction simulations
• Common envelopes in massive stars: Towards the role of radiation pressure and recombination energy in ejecting red supergiant envelopes
• Speaking with one voice: simulations and observations discuss the common envelope $\alpha$ parameter
• Common-envelope evolution with an asymptotic giant branch star
• WD 1856 b: a close giant planet around a white dwarf that could have survived a common-envelope phase
• Common Envelope Evolution on a Moving Mesh
• The Role of Convection in Determining the Ejection Efficiency of Common Envelope Interactions
• The impact of recombination energy on simulations of the common envelope binary interaction
• Light Curve Model for Luminous Red Novae and Inferences about the Ejecta of Stellar Mergers
• Ultra-compact X-ray binaries with He star companions
• Properties of the post in-spiral common envelope ejecta II: dust formation
• Common envelopes in massive stars II: The distinct roles of hydrogen and helium recombination
• Properties of the post in-spiral common envelope ejecta I: dynamical and thermal evolution
• Convection Reconciles the Difference in Efficiencies Between Low-Mass and High-Mass Common Envelopes
• Formation of Low-mass Black Holes and Single Millisecond Pulsars in Globular Clusters
• Observational Constraints on the Common Envelope Phase
• HD101584: Circumstellar characteristics and evolutionary status
• The White Dwarf Binary Pathways Survey VII: Evidence for a bi-modal distribution of post mass transfer systems?
• Formation of long-period post-common-envelope binaries I. No extra energy is needed to explain oxygen-neon white dwarfs paired with AFGK-type main-sequence stars
• Common Envelope Evolution of Massive Stars
• Formation of long-period post-common-envelope binaries II. Explaining the self-lensing binary KOI 3278
• Formation and Evolution of Accreting Compact Objects
• Dust Formation in Common Envelope Binary Interaction -- I: 3D Simulations Using the Bowen Approximation
• The formation of the magnetic symbiotic star FN Sgr
• Common envelopes in massive stars III. The obstructive role of radiation transport in envelope ejection
• From Common Envelope Evolution to Luminous Red Novae I: A One-dimensional Radiation Hydrodynamic Model
• The Energy Sharing Timescale in an Analytic Framework for Common Envelope Hydrodynamics
• Light Curve Models of Convective Common Envelopes
• Magnetic dynamos in white dwarfs -III: explaining the occurrence of strong magnetic fields in close double white dwarfs