Formation of long-period post-common-envelope binaries II. Explaining the self-lensing binary KOI 3278

Abstract

The vast majority of close binaries containing a compact object form through common-envelope (CE) evolution. Despite this importance, we struggle to even understand the energy budget of CE evolution. For decades, observed long-period post-CE binaries have been interpreted as evidence for additional energies to contribute during CE evolution. We have recently shown that this argument is based on simplified assumptions for all long-period post-CE binaries containing massive white dwarfs. The only remaining post-CE binary star that has been claimed to require contributions from additional energy sources to understand its formation is KOI 3278. Here we address in detail the potential evolutionary history of KOI 3278. In particular, we investigated whether extra energy sources, such as recombination energy, are indeed required to explain its existence. We used the 1D stellar evolution code MESA to carry out binary evolution simulations and searched for potential formation pathways for KOI 3278 that are able to explain its observed properties. We found that KOI 3278 can be explained if the white dwarf progenitor filled its Roche lobe during a helium shell flash. In this case, the orbital period of KOI 3278 can be reproduced if the CE binding energy is calculated taking into account gravitational energy and thermodynamic internal energy. While the CE evolution that led to the formation of KOI 3278 must have been efficient, that is, most of the available orbital energy must have been used to unbind the CE, recombination energy is not required. We conclude that currently not a single observed post-CE binary requires to assume energy sources other than gravitational and thermodynamic energy to contribute to CE evolution. KOI 3278, however, remains an intriguing post-CE binary as, unlike its siblings, understanding its existence requires highly efficient CE ejection.

Accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (23)

• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Pulsating Variable Stars, Rotation, Convective Boundaries, and Energy Conservation
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Time-Dependent Convection, Energy Conservation, Automatic Differentiation, and Infrastructure
• Post-common-envelope binaries from SDSS. IX: Constraining the common-envelope efficiency
• Barium & related stars and their white-dwarf companions I. Giant stars
• Recombination energy in double white dwarf formation
• On the role of recombination in common-envelope ejections
• Orbital eccentricities of binary systems with a former AGB star
• Adiabatic mass loss in binary stars. III. From the base of the red giant branch to the tip of asymptotic giant branch
• KOI-3278: A Self-Lensing Binary Star System
• Barium & related stars and their white-dwarf companions II. Main-sequence and subgiant stars
• Coping with loss: Stability of mass transfer from post-main sequence donor stars
• Monte Carlo simulations of post-common-envelope white dwarf + main sequence binaries: The effects of including recombination energy
• Triage of the Gaia DR3 astrometric orbits. I. A sample of binaries with probable compact companions
• Close detached white dwarf + brown dwarf binaries: further evidence for low values of the common envelope efficiency
• A two-stage formalism for common-envelope phases of massive stars
• Evolutionary modelling of subdwarf B stars using MESA with the predictive mixing and convective premixing schemes
• The evolution of the self-lensing binary KOI-3278: evidence of extra energy sources during CE evolution
• The White Dwarf Binary Pathways Survey -- VIII: a post common envelope binary with a massive white dwarf and an active G-type secondary star
• Photometric follow-up of 43 new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries from the ZTF survey
• 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
• Unexpected Short-Period Variability in Dwarf Carbon Stars from the Zwicky Transient Facility
• The post-common-envelope binary nucleus of the planetary nebula IC~4776: Neither an anomalously long orbital period nor a Wolf-Rayet binary

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Wide post-common envelope binaries from Gaia: orbit validation and formation models
• No longer impossible: the self-lensing binary KIC 8145411 is a triple
• The formation of the magnetic symbiotic star FN Sgr
• The Blue Lurker WOCS 14020: A Long-Period Post-Common-Envelope Binary in M67 Originating from a Merger in a Triple System
• Anomalously low-mass core-He-burning star in NGC 6819 as a post-common-envelope phase product
• Resolution of a paradox: SDSS J1257+5428 can be explained as a descendant of a cataclysmic variable with an evolved donor
• White dwarf eccentricity fluctuation and dissipation by AGB convection
• From Main Sequence Binary to Blast: MESA Modeling of the Double-Detonation Progenitor PTF1~J2238+7430