Disk-Regulated Mass Transfer Between Rotating Non-Degenerate Stars: Insights from Be and sdOB Binaries

TL;DR

This paper introduces a physically-motivated model for mass transfer in binary stars that accounts for disk regulation of angular momentum, leading to more accurate predictions of stellar masses in Be and sdOB binaries.

Contribution

The authors develop a new accretion prescription based on disk regulation, improving the realism of binary evolution simulations involving stellar rotation.

Findings

The new model yields higher accretion efficiencies near critical rotation.

It produces more massive Be stars consistent with observations.

Component masses are sensitive to overshooting assumptions.

Abstract

Mass transfer between non-degenerate stars is a fundamental but still poorly understood process in binary evolution. The commonly used rotationally limited accretion prescription in detailed binary evolution simulations that account for stellar rotation generally yields low accretion efficiencies that are difficult to reconcile with several observational constraints. We present a physically-motivated mass-accretion prescription in which accretion or decretion disks regulate the angular momentum transported to the accretor, thereby allowing for continued accretion at near-critical rotation. The accretion efficiency can be calculated from the conservation of the mass and the angular momentum of the disk. Analytical estimates show that the accretion efficiency depends on stellar rotation and mass ratio for direct impact accretion, and additionally on stellar radius and orbital separation in the disk accretion regime. The overall mass-weighted accretion efficiencies are close to the values expected near the threshold rotation rate, where the accreted specific angular momentum declines sharply. Applying this model to binary evolution simulations, we find that rotationally limited accretion systematically underestimates Be-star masses in Be+subdwarf O/B-type star (sdOB) systems, whereas the disk-star coupling model can produce more massive Be stars that are consistent with observations. The final binary component masses depend not only on accretion efficiency but also core-envelope mass ratio, which itself depends sensitively on the assumed overshooting. We find that our new disk-star coupling model with reduced overshooting yields component masses for Be+sdOB systems that are in closer agreement with observations.