Abstract
Wind Roche-lobe overflow (WRLOF) is a mass-transfer mechanism proposed by Mohamed and Podsiadlowski for stellar binaries wherein the wind acceleration zone of the donor star exceeds its Roche-lobe radius, allowing stellar wind material to be transferred to the accretor at enhanced rates. WRLOF may explain characteristics observed in blue lurkers and blue stragglers. While WRLOF has been implemented in rapid population synthesis codes, it has yet to be explored thoroughly in detailed binary models such as MESA (a 1D stellar evolution code), and over a wide range of initial binary configurations. We incorporate WRLOF accretion in MESA to investigate wide low-mass binaries at solar metallicity. We perform a parameter study over the initial orbital periods and stellar masses. In most of the models where we consider angular momentum transfer during accretion, the accretor is spun up to the critical (or breakup) rotation rate. Then we assume the star develops a boosted wind to efficiently reduce the angular momentum so that it could maintain subcritical rotation. Balanced by boosted wind loss, the accretor only gains ∼2% of its total mass, but can maintain a near-critical rotation rate during WRLOF. Notably, the mass-transfer efficiency is significantly smaller than in previous studies in which the rotation of the accretor is ignored. We compare our results to observational data of blue lurkers in M67 and find that the WRLOF mechanism can qualitatively explain the origin of their rapid rotation, their location on the H-R diagram, and their orbital periods.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 8 |
| Journal | Astrophysical Journal |
| Volume | 969 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2024 |
Funding
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant No. AST-2149425, a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) grant awarded to CIERA at Northwestern University. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views at the National Science Foundation. This research was supported in part through the computational resources and staff contributions provided for the Quest high performance computing facility at Northwestern University, which is jointly supported by the Office of the Provost, the Office for Research, and Northwestern University Information Technology. M.S. and V.K. acknowledge the support from the GBMF8477 grant (PI: Kalogera). M.S. thanks the entire POSYDON developer team for their invaluable technical support. M.S. also thanks Phil Arras, Xiaoshan Huang, and Yoram Lithwick for insightful comments on angular momentum transfer in binaries. M.S. thanks Chenliang Huang for discussions from the inception of this idea to the final completion of this manuscript. S.G. acknowledge the funding support by a CIERA Postdoctoral Fellowship. A.M.G. acknowledges support from the NSF AAG grant No. AST-2107738. E.M.L. was supported in part by a CIERA Postdoctoral Fellowship. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant No. AST-2149425, a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) grant awarded to CIERA at Northwestern University. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views at the National Science Foundation. This research was supported in part through the computational resources and staff contributions provided for the Quest high performance computing facility at Northwestern University, which is jointly supported by the Office of the Provost, the Office for Research, and Northwestern University Information Technology. M.S. and V.K. acknowledge the support from the GBMF8477 grant (PI: Kalogera). M.S. thanks the entire POSYDON developer team for their invaluable technical support. M.S. also thanks Phil Arras, Xiaoshan Huang, and Yoram Lithwick for insightful comments on angular momentum transfer in binaries. M.S. thanks Chenliang Huang for discussions from the inception of this idea to the final completion of this manuscript. S.G. acknowledge the funding support by a CIERA Postdoctoral Fellowship. A.M.G. acknowledges support from the NSF AAG grant No. AST-2107738. E.M.L. was supported in part by a CIERA Postdoctoral Fellowship.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science