A PIONIER View on Mass-Transferring Red Giants

TL;DR

This paper uses PIONIER at the VLT to study mass transfer in symbiotic stars, revealing detailed insights into the process and the role of Roche lobe overflow in these active binary systems.

Contribution

It provides the first high-resolution interferometric observations of symbiotic stars, offering new understanding of mass transfer mechanisms in these systems.

Findings

Evidence supporting Roche lobe overflow as a key mass transfer process

High-resolution imaging of symbiotic star environments

Insights into the structure of mass transfer in binary systems

Abstract

Symbiotic stars display absorption lines of a cool red giant together with emission lines of a nebula ionized by a hotter star, indicative of an active binary star system in which mass transfer is occurring. PIONIER at the VLT has been used to combine the light of four telescopes at a time to study in unprecedented detail how mass is transferred in symbiotic stars. The results of a mini-survey of symbiotic stars with PIONIER are summarised and some tentative general results about the role of Roche lobe overflow are presented.