Aluminium-26 production in low- and intermediate-mass binary systems

Abstract

Aluminium-26 is a radioactive isotope which can be synthesized within asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, primarily through hot bottom burning. Studies exploring ${}^{26}$Al production within AGB stars typically focus on single-stars; however, observations show that low- and intermediate-mass stars commonly exist in binaries. We use the binary population synthesis code binary_c to explore the impact of binary evolution on ${}^{26}$Al yields at solar metallicity both within individual AGB stars and a low/intermediate-mass stellar population. We find the key stellar structural condition achieving most ${}^{26}$Al overproduction is for stars to enter the thermally-pulsing AGB (TP-AGB) phase with small cores relative to their total masses, allowing those stars to spend abnormally long times on the TP-AGB compared to single-stars of identical mass. Our population with a binary fraction of 0.75 has an ${}^{26}$Al weighted population yield increase of $25\%$ compared to our population of only single-stars. Stellar-models calculated from the Mt Stromlo/Monash Stellar Structure Program, which we use to test our results from binary_c and closely examine the interior structure of the overproducing stars, support our binary_c results only when the stellar envelope gains mass after core-He depletion. Stars which gain mass before core-He depletion still overproduce ${}^{26}$Al, but to a lesser extent. This introduces some physical uncertainty into our conclusions as $55\%$ of our ${}^{26}$Al overproducing stars gain envelope mass through stellar wind accretion onto pre-AGB objects. Our work highlights the need to consider binary influence on the production of ${}^{26}$Al.

20 pages, 17 figures, and 6 tables. This article has been accepted for publication in MNRAS Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society

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