Wind mass transfer in symbiotic binaries I. Focusing by the wind compression model
Authors:
A. Skopal, Z. Carikova
Image & caption:
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Image caption::
Left panels: Compression of the wind from the giant to the equatorial plane, which at the distance of 5-6 star's radii can be a factor of > 5-9 higher than in the case of spherically symmetric wind. Right panels: Density distribution in the compressed wind calculated for a typical mass-loss rate of 10^{-7} solar masses per year.
Description:
Discovery of very high luminosities of burnig white dwarfs in symbiotic stars, made already during 80s decade of the last century, pointed an unsolved problem: „How do red giants in symbiotic binaries, being well within their Roche lobes, lose sufficient mass to produce the observed high luminosities of their hot companions?“ In this paper we suggested and tested a possibility that accretion onto the white dwarf can be significantly enhanced by focusing of the wind from giants towards the binary orbital plane due to their slow rotation. Applying the wind compression model to the stellar wind of slowly rotating red giants in symbiotic binaries, we revealed that densities of the compressed wind at a typical distance of the accretor from its giant can be more than a factor of 10 higher than for the spherically symmetric wind. This allows the white dwarf to accrete at rates of 10^{-8} – 10^{-7} solar masses per year, and thus to power its high luminosity.
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