A general, three-dimensional fluid dynamics code for stars in binary systems

Abstract

We describe the theory and implementation of a three-dimensional fluid dynamics code which we have developed for calculating the surface geometry and circulation currents in the secondaries of interacting binary systems. The main method is based on an Eulerian-Lagrangian scheme to solve the advective and force terms in Euler's equation. Surface normalised spherical polar coordinates are used to allow the accurate modelling of the surface of the star, as is necessary when free surfaces and irradiation effects are to be considered. The potential and its gradient are expressed as sums of Legendre polynomials, which allows a very efficient solution of Poisson's equation. The basic solution scheme, based on operator splitting, is outlined, and standard numerical tests are presented.

14 pages, 6 figures, MNRAS, accepted version

References in corpus (3)

• The mass of the neutron star in Vela X-1
• Irradiation of the secondary star in X-ray Nova Scorpii 1994 (=GRO J1655--40)
• Stationary structures of irrotational binary systems -- models for close binary systems of compact stars

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• A method to simulate inhomogeneously irradiated objects with a superposition of 1D models