On the Eccentricity Excitation in Post-main-sequence Binaries

Several classes of stellar binaries with post-main-sequence (post-MS) components—millisecond pulsars with the white dwarf companions (MSP+WD) and periods of {P}_b∼ 30 days, binaries hosting post-asymptotic giant branch stars, or barium stars with {P}_b ∼ several years—feature high eccentricities (up to 0.4) despite the expectation of their efficient tidal circularization during their post-MS evolution. It was suggested that the eccentricities of these binaries can be naturally excited by their tidal coupling to the circumbinary disk, formed by the material ejected from the binary. Here we critically reassess this idea using simple arguments rooted in the global angular momentum conservation of the disk+binary system. Compared to previous studies, we (1) fully account for the viscous spreading of the circumbinary disk, (2) consider the possibility of reaccretion from the disk onto the binary (in agreement with simulations and empirical evidence), and (3) allow for the reduced viscosity after the disk expands, cools, and forms dust. These ingredients conspire to significantly lower the efficiency of eccentricity excitation by the disk tides. We find that explaining eccentricities of the post-MS binaries is difficult and requires massive (≳ {10}^-2 {M}_⊙ ), long-lived (≳ {10}⁵ years) circumbinary disks that do not reaccrete. While disk tides may account for the eccentricities of the MSP+WD binaries, we show reaccretion to also be detrimental for these systems. Reduced efficiency of the disk-driven excitation motivates the study of alternative mechanisms for producing the peculiar eccentricities of the post-MS binaries.