Recombination energy in double white dwarf formation
Persistent URL
Author(s)
Nandez, Jose L. A.
Ivanova, Natalia
Lombardi, James C., Jr. (Jamie)
Date Issued
June 11, 2015
Abstract
In this Letter, we investigate the role of recombination energy during a common envelope event. We confirm that taking this energy into account helps to avoid the formation of the circumbinary envelope commonly found in previous studies. For the first time, we can model a complete common envelope event, with a clean compact double white dwarf binary system formed at the end. The resulting binary orbit is almost perfectly circular. In addition to considering recombination energy, we also show that between 1/4 and 1/2 of the released orbital energy is taken away by the ejected material. We apply this new method to the case of the double white dwarf system WD 1101+364, and we find that the progenitor system at the start of the common envelope event consisted of an ∼1.5 M⊙ red giant star in an ∼30 d orbit with a white dwarf companion.
Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Department
Physics
Citation
Nandez, J. L. A., N. Ivanova, and J. C. Lombardi. 2015. "Recombination energy in double white dwarf formation." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 450, no. 1: L39-L43.
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Version of Article
Published article
DOI
10.1093/mnrasl/slv043
ISSN
0035-8711
1365-2966
Rights
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters ©: 2015 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
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