Ultra-compact X-ray binaries with He star companions

TL;DR

This study systematically investigates the formation of ultra-compact X-ray binaries with helium star donors, estimating their Galactic rates, potential as LISA sources, and explaining observed transient sources.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the He star donor channel for UCXB formation using stellar evolution and population synthesis, highlighting its significance in Galactic UCXB production.

Findings

Galactic UCXB formation rate via this channel is estimated at 3.1-11.9 Myr^{-1}.

Number of UCXB-LISA sources in the Galaxy can reach 1-26.

Evolutionary tracks match observed long-period transient sources.

Abstract

Ultra-compact X-ray binaries (UCXBs) are low-mass X-ray binaries with hydrogen-deficient mass-donors and ultra-short orbital periods. They have been suggested to be the potential Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) sources in the low-frequency region. Several channels for the formation of UCXBs have been proposed so far. In this article, we carried out a systematic study on the He star donor channel, in which a neutron star (NS) accretes matter from a He main-sequence star through Roche-lobe overflow, where the mass-transfer is driven by gravitational wave radiation. Firstly, we followed the long-term evolution of the NS+He main-sequence star binaries by employing the stellar evolution code Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics, and thereby obtained the initial parameter spaces for the production of UCXBs. We then used these results to perform a detailed binary population synthesis approach to obtain the Galactic rates of UCXBs through this channel. We estimate the Galactic rates of UCXBs appearing as LISA sources to be $\sim3.1-11.9\, \rm Myr^{-1}$ through this channel, and the number of such UCXB-LISA sources in the Galaxy can reach about $1-26$ calibrated by observations. The present work indicates that the He star donor channel may contribute significantly to the Galactic UCXB formation rate. We found that the evolutionary tracks of UCXBs through this channel can account for the location of the five transient sources with relatively long orbital periods quite well. We also found that such UCXBs can be identified by their locations in the mass-transfer rate versus the orbital period diagram.