A model of AW UMa

Abstract

The contact binary AW UMa has an extreme mass ratio, with the more massive component (the current primary) close to the main sequence, while the low mass star at q ~ 0.1 (the current secondary) has a much larger radius than a main sequence star of a comparable mass. We propose that the current secondary has almost exhausted hydrogen in its center and is much more advanced in its evolution, as suggested by Stepien. Presumably the current secondary lost most of its mass during its evolution with part of it transferred to the current primary. After losing a large fraction of its angular momentum, the binary may evolve into a system of FK Com type.

5 pages, 6 figures, Accepted to MNRAS, content changed

References in corpus (3)

• Solar Fusion Cross Sections
• Oscillations of alpha UMa and other red giants
• The Evolution of Cool Algols

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Pre-explosion spiral mass loss of a binary star merger
• Angular momentum and mass evolution of contact binaries
• The evolutionary status of W Ursae Majoris-type systems
• Physical Parameters of Late-type Contact Binaries in the Northern Catalina Sky Survey
• Evolution of the progenitor binary of V1309 Scorpii before merger
• Large scale circulations and energy transport in contact binaries
• Radial velocity mapping of Paczyński's star AW UMa: Not a contact binary
• Time sequence spectroscopy of AW UMa. The 518 nm Mg I triplet region analyzed with Broadening Functions
• Mass-ratio distribution of contact binary stars
• Applications of the $k$-$\omega$ model in stellar evolutionary models
• Model computations of blue stragglers and W UMa-type stars in globular clusters
• Evolutionary history of four binary blue stragglers from the globular clusters ωCen, M55, 47 Tuc and NGC 6752