Identification of the Long-Sought Common-Envelope Events

Project Author
Issue Date
2013-01-25
Authors
Ivanova, Natalia
Justham, S.
Nandez, Jose L. A.
Lombardi, James C., Jr. (Jamie)
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Embargo
First Reader
Additional Readers
Keywords
Abstract
Common-envelope events (CEEs), during which two stars temporarily orbit within a shared envelope, are believed to be vital for the formation of a wide range of close binaries. For decades, the only evidence that CEEs actually occur has been indirect, based on the existence of systems that could not be otherwise explained. Here we propose a direct observational signature of CEEs arising from a physical model where emission from matter ejected in a CEE is controlled by a recombination front as the matter cools. The natural range of time scales and energies from this model, as well as the expected colors, light-curve shapes, ejection velocities, and event rate, match those of a recently recognized class of red transient outbursts.
Description
Chair
Major
Department
Physics
Recorder
License
This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on January 25, 2013 (v.339), DOI: 10.1126/science.1225540
Citation
Ivanova, N., et al. 2013. "Identification of the Long-Sought Common-Envelope Events." Science 339, no. 6118 (January 25): 433-435.
Version
Postprint
Honors
Publisher
Science
Series