The accreting component of mass-exchange binaries.
Abstract
The effect of rapid accretion on a moderate-mass stellar model is studied. The surface boundary condition is examined for two modes of accretion - disk and direct impact. It is found that the effective temperature must be increased for disk accretion but not for direct-impact accretion. In the latter mode the excess kinetic energy of the transfer stream is radiated in an optically thick hot spot or in a hot equatorial band. The remainder of the star is unaffected by the direct-impact accretion. Evolutionary calculations for direct-impact accretion show that the mass-gaining star swells. The present orbital elements of X-ray binaries indicate that these systems went through a contact phase of evolution. Significant quantities of mass and angular momentum may have been lost at that time.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- June 1976
- DOI:
- 10.1086/154406
- Bibcode:
- 1976ApJ...206..509U
- Keywords:
-
- Binary Stars;
- Mass Transfer;
- Stellar Evolution;
- Stellar Mass Ejection;
- Stellar Models;
- X Ray Stars;
- Orbital Elements;
- Shock Waves;
- Stellar Luminosity;
- Stellar Mass;
- Stellar Temperature;
- X Ray Binaries;
- Astrophysics