2011/06/07 by N. Blind, Nicolas Blind, H. M. J. Boffin +10
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1106.1384
6 pages, 4 figures. Proceeding of the ESO workshop "Evolution of Compact Binaries" (Vina del Mar, Chile, march 2011), ASP Conf. Series
arxiv created 2011/06/07 · openalex publication_date 2011/06/07 · arxiv updated 2011/06/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Symbiotic stars are eccellent laboratories to study a broad range of poorly understood physical processes, such as mass loss of red giants, accretion onto compact objects, and evolution of nova-like outbursts. As their evolution is strongly influenced by the mass transfer episodes, understanding the history of these systems requires foremost to determine which process is at play: Roche lobe overflow, stellar wind accretion, or some more complex mixture of both. We report here an interferometric study of the symbiotic system SS Leporis, performed with the unique PIONIER instrument. By determining the binary orbit and revisiting the parameters of the two stars, we show that the giant does not fill its Roche lobe, and that the mass transfer most likely occurs via the accretion of an important part of the giant's wind.