Tidal Evolution of Eccentric Binaries Driven by Convective Turbulent Viscosity

TL;DR

This paper develops a formalism to compute tidal dissipation in eccentric binaries considering frequency-dependent turbulent viscosity, revealing significant differences from previous models in stellar evolution scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces a new formalism for tidal dissipation in eccentric binaries that accounts for frequency-dependent turbulent viscosity effects, applicable to arbitrary eccentricities.

Findings

Pseudosynchronous rotation rates vary widely in models.

Tidal decay can be much faster in giant branch stars.

Viscosity reduction suppresses tidal effects in solar-type stars.

Abstract

Tidal dissipation due to convective turbulent viscosity shapes the evolution of a variety of astrophysical binaries. For example, this type of dissipation determines the rate of orbital circularization in a binary with a post-main sequence star that is evolving toward a common envelope phase. Viscous dissipation can also influence binaries with solar-type stars, or stars with a close-in giant planet. In general, the effective viscosity in a convective stellar envelope depends on the tidal forcing frequency $\omega_{\rm tide}$; when $\omega_{\rm tide}$ is larger than the turnover frequency of convective eddies, the viscosity is reduced. Previous work has focused on binaries in nearly circular orbits. However, for eccentric orbits, the tidal potential has many forcing frequencies. In this paper, we develop a formalism for computing tidal dissipation that captures the effect of frequency-dependent turbulent viscosity and is valid for arbitrary binary eccentricities. We also present an alternative simpler formulation that is suitable for very high eccentricities. We apply our formalisms to a giant branch (GB) star model and a solar-type star model. We find that a range of pseudosynchronous rotation rates are possible for both stellar models, and the pseudosynchronous rate can differ from the prediction of the commonly-used weak tidal friction theory by up to a factor of a few. We also find that tidal decay and circularization due to turbulent viscosity can be a few orders of magnitude faster than predicted by weak tidal friction in GB stars on eccentric, small pericentre orbits, but is suppressed by a few orders of magnitude in solar-type stars due to viscosity reduction.