Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Simulations of Accretion in Short Period Algols

TL;DR

This study uses 3D hydrodynamic simulations to show that magnetic activity-induced stream deflection can produce out-of-plane flows and tilted accretion discs in short-period Algol systems, aligning with recent observations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that deflecting the accretion stream out of the orbital plane can generate observed out-of-plane flows and disc tilts, providing a magnetic activity-based explanation.

Findings

Deflected streams miss the star's surface, forming slightly warped discs.

Out-of-plane flow increases by 3 to 8 orders of magnitude with stream deflection.

Simulated emissivity matches observed tomographic features.

Abstract

Recent observations have shown that the direct-impact Algol systems U CrB and RS Vul possess gas located outside of the orbital plane, including a tilted accretion disc in U CrB. Observations of circumstellar gas surrounding the mass donor in RS Vul suggest magnetic effects could be responsible for deflecting the accretion stream out of the orbital plane, resulting in a tilted disc. To determine whether a tilted disc is possible due to a deflected stream, we use three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of the mass transfer process in RS Vul. By deflecting the stream 45 degrees out of the orbital plane and boosting the magnitude of the stream's velocity to Mach 30, we mimic the effects of magnetic activity near L1. We find that the modified stream parameters change the direct-impact nature of the system. The stream misses the surface of the star, and a slightly warped accretion disc forms with no more than 3 degrees of disc tilt. The stream-disc interaction for the deflected stream forces a large degree of material above the orbital plane, increasing the out-of-plane flow drastically. Plotting the H-alpha emissivity in velocity space allows us to compare our results with tomographic observations. Deflecting and boosting the stream increases the emissivity in each z-velocity slice of the out-of-plane flow by at least three and up to eight orders of magnitude compared to the undeflected case. We conclude that a deflected stream is a viable mechanism for producing the strong out-of-plane flows seen in the tomographic images of U CrB and RS Vul.