Journey to the center of the common envelope evolution. Inner dynamics of the post-dynamical inspiral
Damien Gagnier, Ondrej Pejcha

TL;DR
This study uses high-resolution 3D hydrodynamical simulations to analyze the late-stage evolution of common envelope binaries, revealing the formation of a nearly hydrostatic gas structure that influences inspiral timescales and examining magnetic field organization.
Contribution
It introduces a detailed resolution study of post-dynamical inspiral phases, highlighting the formation of a hydrostatic envelope and its impact on binary evolution, which was not thoroughly explored before.
Findings
Quantitative convergence of inspiral timescales with resolution and softening parameters.
Formation of a hydrostatic, corotating envelope around the cores after tens of orbits.
Magnetic fields are unlikely to develop large-scale structures via the alpha-effect during this phase.
Abstract
Three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of common envelope evolution are often terminated soon after the initial dynamical plunge of the companion transitions into a long-lasting post-dynamical inspiral with slowly varying semi-major axis, . This premature termination is often due to insufficient numerical resolution and challenges associated with the softening of the gravitational potential of the two cores. In this work, we use statically-refined 3D hydrodynamical simulations to study binaries orbiting inside a common envelope, exploring the effects of varying numerical resolution, , gravitational potential softening prescriptions, and the associated softening lengthscale, . We find that quantities such as the binary inspiral timescale or the volume-averaged shearing rate typically converge to asymptotic values only for …
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Taxonomy
TopicsStellar, planetary, and galactic studies · Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
