2000/01/03 by Thomas M. Tauris, T. M. Tauris, Tauris, T. M. +3
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0001014
6 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the NATO ASI "The Neutron Star - Black Hole Connection"
arxiv created 2000/01/03 · openalex publication_date 2000/01/03 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We discuss the influence of tidal spin-orbit interactions on the orbital dynamics of close intermediate-mass X-ray binaries. In particular we consider here a process in which spin angular momentum of a contracting RLO donor star, in a synchronous orbit, is converted into orbital angular momentum and thus helps to stabilize the mass transfer by widening the orbit. Binaries which would otherwise suffer from dynamically unstable mass transfer (leading to the formation of a common envelope and spiral-in evolution) are thus shown to survive a phase of extreme mass transfer on a sub-thermal timescale. Furthermore, we discuss the orbital evolution prior to RLO in X-ray binaries with low-mass donors, caused by the competing effects of wind mass loss and tidal effects due to expansion of the (sub)giant.