Preferential Accretion and Circumbinary Disk Precession in Eccentric Binary Systems

Abstract

We present a suite of high resolution hydrodynamic simulations of binaries immersed in circumbinary accretion disks (CBDs). For the first time, we investigate the preferential accretion rate as a function of both eccentricity $e_{\mathrm{b}}$ and mass ratio $q_{\mathrm{b}}$ in a densely sampled parameter space, finding that when compared with circular binaries, mass ratios grow more efficiently in binaries on moderately eccentric orbits ($0.0\lesssim e_{\mathrm{b}}\lesssim 0.4$), and high eccentricities ($e_{\mathrm{b}}\gtrsim 0.6$) suppress mass ratio growth. We suggest that this non-monotonic preferential accretion behaviour may produce an observable shift in the mass ratio distributions of stellar binaries and massive black hole binaries. We further find that the response of a CBD can be divided into three regimes, depending on eccentricity and mass ratio: (i) CBDs around circular binaries always precess freely, whereas CBDs around eccentric binaries either (ii) undergo forced precession or (iii) remain locked at an angle with respect to the binary periapsis. Forced precession in eccentric binaries is associated with strong modulation of individual accretion rates on the precession timescale, a potentially observable signature in accreting binaries with short orbital periods. We provide CBD locking angles and precession rates as a function of $e_{\mathrm{b}}$ and $q_{\mathrm{b}}$ for our simulation suite.

15 pages, 14 figures. Published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

References in corpus (8)

• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• Protoplanetary Disk Structures in Ophiuchus
• Massive black hole binary mergers within sub-pc scale gas discs
• Viscous Hydrodynamics Simulations of Circumbinary Accretion Discs: Variability, Quasi-Steady State, and Angular Momentum Transfer
• Circumbinary Accretion from Finite and Infinite Disks
• Precession and accretion in circumbinary discs: The case of HD 104237
• The effect of differential accretion on the Gravitational Wave Background and the present day MBH Binary population
• The competing effect of gas and stars in massive black hole binaries evolution

Cited by in corpus (33)

• Orbital Evolution of Binaries in Circumbinary Disks
• The Effect of Thermal Torques on AGN Disc Migration Traps and Gravitational Wave Populations
• Long-term Evolution of Binary Orbits Induced by Circumbinary Disks
• Evolution and final fate of massive post-common-envelope binaries
• A unified accretion disc model for supermassive black holes in galaxy formation simulations: method and implementation
• Eccentric Binaries in Retrograde Disks
• Modelling the accretion and feedback of supermassive black hole binaries in gas-rich galaxy mergers
• From spherical stars to disk-like structures: 3D common-envelope evolution of massive binaries beyond inspiral
• Exciting spiral arms in protoplanetary discs from flybys
• Probing the eccentricity in protostellar discs -- Modeling kinematics and morphologies
• Magnetically Arrested Circumbinary Accretion Flows
• Viscous circumbinary protoplanetary discs -- I. Structure of the inner cavity
• Orbital dynamics in the GG Tau A system: investigating its enigmatic disc
• On the behaviour of eccentric sub-pc massive black hole binaries embedded in massive discs
• Dynamics and spin alignment in massive, gravito-turbulent circumbinary discs around supermassive black hole binaries
• Common envelopes in massive stars III. The obstructive role of radiation transport in envelope ejection
• Changing-Look Inspirals: Trends and Switches in AGN Disk Emission as Signposts for Merging Black Hole Binaries
• BH-BH mergers with & without EM counterpart: A model for stable tertiary mass transfer in hierarchical triple systems
• Impact of a binary black hole on its outer circumbinary disc
• Radiation Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation of sub-Eddington Circumbinary Disk around an Equal-mass Massive Black Hole Binary
• The likelihood of not detecting cavity-carving companions in transition discs -- A statistical approach
• On Variation of Light Curves and Broad Emission Lines for Periodic QSOs from co-rotating Supermassive binary black holes in elliptical orbits
• Population Synthesis of Gravitational Wave Sources
• Thermal X-ray signatures in late-stage unequal-mass massive black hole binary mergers
• Eccentric Disks from Gaseous Rings around Equal-Mass, Circular Binaries
• Radiation pressure role in accreting massive black hole binaries
• Electromagnetic variability from circumbinary discs around binary black holes during their post-decoupling epoch
• Viscous circumbinary protoplanetary discs -- II. Disc effects on the binary orbit
• Insights from Analytical Theory of Eccentric Circumbinary Disks
• Rapid sinking and efficient mergers of supermassive black holes in compact high-redshift galaxies
• Multiwavelength periodic microlensing signatures of macrolensed supermassive binary black holes
• Preferential accretion of binary stars
• An equal mass ratio supermassive binary black holes in Q J0158-4325 with periodic microlensing signature?