Orbit precession and orbital period shortening in close binary systems

TL;DR

This paper discusses the phenomenological effects of orbit precession and orbital period shortening in close binary systems, focusing on the mathematical description of orbit precession through inverse cube and inverse square distance contributions.

Contribution

It introduces a phenomenological model combining inverse square and inverse cube distance terms to describe orbit precession in close binary systems.

Findings

Precession is modeled by adding an inverse cube term to the inverse square law.

The point where inverse cube and inverse square contributions are equal is identified.

The effects are significant in close binary systems with small orbital distances.

Abstract

We describe phenomenologically well-known effects in close binary systems. The uniform precession of an elliptical orbit is described by the adding of an inverse cube to an inverse square of the distance. If the precession is small, then the inverse cube contribution is small as compared to the one of inverse square. At some value of the distance these contributions become equal.