Influence of the initial orbital period and accretion efficiency on the low-mass binary evolution

Abstract

This paper presents detailed evolutionary models of low-mass binary systems (1.25 + 1 M⊙) with initial orbital periods of 10, 50 and 100 days and accretion efficiency of 10%, 20%, 50%, and a conservative assumption. All models are calculated with the MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics) evolutionary code. We show that such binary systems can evolve via a stable Case B mass transfer into long period helium white dwarf systems.

Keywords

• stars: binaries: general
• stars: evolution
• stars: low-mass
• stars: white dwarfs