skip to main content

Title: A promising formation channel for symbiotic X-ray binaries: cases of IGR J17329−2731 and 4U 1700+24
ABSTRACT

Recent observations demonstrate that the symbiotic X-ray binary (SyXB) IGR J17329−2731 contains a highly magnetized neutron star (NS), which accretes matter through the wind from its giant star companion, and suggest that 4U 1700+24 may also have a highly magnetized NS. Accretion-induced collapse (AIC) from oxygen–neon–magnesium white dwarf (ONeMg WD) + red giant (RG) star binaries is one promising channel to form these SyXBs, while other long standing formation channels have difficulties to produce these SyXBs. By considering non-magnetic and magnetic ONeMg WDs, I investigate the evolution of ONeMg WD + RG binaries with the mesa stellar evolution code for producing SyXBs with non-magnetic or magnetized NSs. In the pre-AIC evolution with magnetic confinement, the mass accumulation efficiency of the accreting WD is increased at low-mass transfer rate compared with the non-magnetic case. The newborn NSs formed via AIC of highly magnetized WDs could inherit the large magnetic field through conservation of magnetic flux, and the systems could have a long age compatible with that of the red giant companions. These young and highly magnetized NSs could accrete matters from the stellar wind of the giant companions to that shine as those observed SyXBs, and could preserve their high magnetic more » field during this time. The mesa calculation results show that the initial parameter (initial RG mass and orbital period) space for the AIC with magnetic confinement to form SyXBs with highly magnetized NSs shifts to be lower and narrower compared with that of the no magnetic confinement case.

« less
Authors:
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10387604
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume:
519
Issue:
1
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
p. 1327-1335
ISSN:
0035-8711
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ABSTRACT We test the hypothesis that the observed first-peak (Sr, Y, Zr) and second-peak (Ba) s-process elemental abundances in low-metallicity Milky Way stars, and the abundances of the elements Mo and Ru, can be explained by a pervasive r-process contribution originating in neutrino-driven winds from highly magnetic and rapidly rotating proto-neutron stars (proto-NSs). We construct chemical evolution models that incorporate recent calculations of proto-NS yields in addition to contributions from asymptotic giant branch stars, Type Ia supernovae, and two alternative sets of yields for massive star winds and core-collapse supernovae. For non-rotating massive star yields from either set, models without proto-NS winds underpredict the observed s-process peak abundances by 0.3–$1\, \text{dex}$ at low metallicity, and they severely underpredict Mo and Ru at all metallicities. Models incorporating wind yields from proto-NSs with spin periods P ∼ 2–$5\, \text{ms}$ fit the observed trends for all these elements well. Alternatively, models omitting proto-NS winds but adopting yields of rapidly rotating massive stars, with vrot between 150 and $300\, \text{km}\, \text{s}^{-1}$, can explain the observed abundance levels reasonably well for [Fe/H] < −2. These models overpredict [Sr/Fe] and [Mo/Fe] at higher metallicities, but with a tuned dependence of vrot on stellar metallicity they mightmore »achieve an acceptable fit at all [Fe/H]. If many proto-NSs are born with strong magnetic fields and short spin periods, then their neutrino-driven winds provide a natural source for Sr, Y, Zr, Mo, Ru, and Ba in low-metallicity stellar populations. Conversely, spherical winds from unmagnetized proto-NSs overproduce the observed Sr, Y, and Zr abundances by a large factor.« less
  2. Eclipsing post-common-envelope binaries are highly important for resolving the poorly understood, very short-lived common-envelope phase of stellar evolution. Most hot subdwarfs (sdO/Bs) are the bare helium-burning cores of red giants that have lost almost all of their hydrogen envelope. This mass loss is often triggered by common-envelope interactions with close stellar or even substellar companions. Cool companions to hot subdwarf stars such as late-type stars and brown dwarfs are detectable from characteristic light-curve variations – reflection effects and often eclipses. In the recently published catalog of eclipsing binaries in the Galactic Bulge and in the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey, we discovered 125 new eclipsing systems showing a reflection effect seen by visual inspection of the light curves and using a machine-learning algorithm, in addition to the 36 systems previously discovered by the Optical Gravitational Lesing Experiment (OGLE) team. The Eclipsing Reflection Effect Binaries from Optical Surveys (EREBOS) project aims at analyzing all newly discovered eclipsing binaries of the HW Vir type (hot subdwarf + close, cool companion) based on a spectroscopic and photometric follow up to derive the mass distribution of the companions, constrain the fraction of substellar companions, and determine the minimum mass needed to stripmore »off the red-giant envelope. To constrain the nature of the primary we derived the absolute magnitude and the reduced proper motion of all our targets with the help of the parallaxes and proper motions measured by the Gaia mission and compared those to the Gaia white-dwarf candidate catalog. It was possible to derive the nature of a subset of our targets, for which observed spectra are available, by measuring the atmospheric parameter of the primary, confirming that less than 10% of our systems are not sdO/Bs with cool companions but are white dwarfs or central stars of planetary nebula. This large sample of eclipsing hot subdwarfs with cool companions allowed us to derive a significant period distribution for hot subdwarfs with cool companions for the first time showing that the period distribution is much broader than previously thought and is ideally suited to finding the lowest-mass companions to hot subdwarf stars. The comparison with related binary populations shows that the period distribution of HW Vir systems is very similar to WD+dM systems and central stars of planetary nebula with cool companions. In the future, several new photometric surveys will be carried out, which will further increase the sample of this project, providing the potential to test many aspects of common-envelope theory and binary evolution.« less
  3. Abstract The recent discoveries of WD J091405.30+191412.25 (WD J0914 hereafter), a white dwarf (WD) likely accreting material from an ice-giant planet, and WD 1856+534 b (WD 1856 b hereafter), a Jupiter-sized planet transiting a WD, are the first direct evidence of giant planets orbiting WDs. However, for both systems, the observations indicate that the planets’ current orbital distances would have put them inside the stellar envelope during the red-giant phase, implying that the planets must have migrated to their current orbits after their host stars became WDs. Furthermore, WD J0914 is a very hot WD with a short cooling time that indicates a fast migration mechanism. Here, we demonstrate that the Eccentric Kozai–Lidov Mechanism, combined with stellar evolution and tidal effects, can naturally produce the observed orbital configurations, assuming that the WDs have distant stellar companions. Indeed, WD 1856 is part of a stellar triple system, being a distant companion to a stellar binary. We provide constraints for the orbital and physical characteristics for the potential stellar companion of WD J0914 and determine the initial orbital parameters of the WD 1856 system.
  4. ABSTRACT

    White dwarfs that accrete from non-degenerate companions show anomalous carbon and nitrogen abundances in the photospheres of their stellar components have been postulated to be descendants of supersoft X-ray binaries. Measuring the carbon-to-nitrogen abundance ratio may provide constraints on their past evolution. We fit far-ultraviolet spectroscopy of the cataclysmic variable HS 0218 + 3229 taken with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, and found the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio is about one tenth of the Solar value $(\rm{\log \mathrm{[C/N]}}=-0.56\pm 0.15)$. We also provide estimates of the silicon and aluminium abundances, and upper limits for iron and oxygen. Using the parameters we derived for HS 0218 + 3229 we reconstruct its past. We calculated a grid of mesa models and implemented Gaussian process fits in order to determine its most likely initial binary configuration. We found that an initial mass of the donor of $M_{\rm donor;i}=0.90-0.98,\rm{\mathrm{M}_{\odot }}$ and an initial orbital period of Porb; i = 2.88 d (Porb; i = 3.12–3.16 d) for an assumed initial white dwarf mass of $\rm{M_{\mathrm{WD}}}_\mathrm{;i}=0.83\, \rm{\mathrm{M}_{\odot }}$$(\rm{M_{\mathrm{WD}}}_{\rm ;i}=0.60\, \rm{\mathrm{M}_{\odot }})$ can replicate the measured parameters. The low mass ratio, $M_{\rm donor;i} / \rm{M_{\mathrm{WD}}}_{\rm ;i} =1.08-1.18\, (1.5-1.63)$, suggests that the system did not go through a phase of hydrogen-burning onmore »the white dwarf’s surface. However, we can not exclude a phase of thermal time-scale mass transfer in the past. We predict that HS 0218 + 3229 will evolve below the ≃ 76.2 ± 1 min period minimum for normal cataclysmic variables.

    « less
  5. Abstract We created the APOGEE-GALEX-Gaia catalog to study white dwarf (WD) binaries. This database aims to create a minimally biased sample of WD binary systems identified from a combination of GALEX, Gaia, and APOGEE data to increase the number of WD binaries with orbital parameters and chemical compositions. We identify 3414 sources as WD binary candidates, with nondegenerate companions of spectral types between F and M, including main-sequence stars, main-sequence binaries, subgiants, sub-subgiants, red giants, and red clump stars. Among our findings are (a) a total of 1806 systems having inferred WD radii R < 25 R ⊕ , which constitute a more reliable group of WD binary candidates within the main sample; (b) a difference in the metallicity distribution function between WD binary candidates and the control sample of most luminous giants ( M H < −3.0); (c) the existence of a population of sub-subgiants with WD companions; (d) evidence for shorter periods in binaries that contain WDs compared to those that do not, as shown by the cumulative distributions of APOGEE radial velocity shifts; (e) evidence for systemic orbital evolution in a sample of 252 WD binaries with orbital periods, based on differences in the period distribution betweenmore »systems with red clump, main-sequence binary, and sub-subgiant companions and systems with main-sequence or red giant companions; and (f) evidence for chemical enrichment during common envelope (CE) evolution, shown by lower metallicities in wide WD binary candidates ( P > 100 days) compared to post-CE ( P < 100 days) WD binary candidates.« less