Related papers: Ellipsoidal variability of symbiotic giants
Symbiotic stars serve as exceptional laboratories for investigating mass transfer processes in binary systems. However, the dominant mechanism of mass transfer from the red giant donor to the compact accretor - typically a white dwarf or,…
We present and analyze quiescent UBVRI light curves of the classical symbiotic binary YY Her. We show that the secondary minimum, which is clearly visible only in the quiescent VRI light curves, is due to ellipsoidal variability of the red…
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…
Symbiotic stars, which generally comprise a red giant and an accreting white dwarf, are excellent laboratories to understand mass transfer in wide binaries, with application to a wide family of systems. One of the fundamental questions is…
Symbiotic stars display absorption lines of a cool red giant together with emission lines of a nebula ionized by a hotter star, indicative of an active binary star system in which mass transfer is occurring. PIONIER at the VLT has been used…
This contribution is focused on the role of cool giants in symbiotic binaries. Especially, we pay attention to their mass-loss rates and the wind mass-transfer onto their compact accretors.
While mass transfer in binary systems is a crucial aspect of binary evolution models, it remains far from understood. HD 352 is a spectroscopic binary exhibiting ellipsoidal variability, likely due to a tidally deformed giant donor filling…
Context. The wind mass transfer from a giant to its white dwarf companion in symbiotic binaries is not well understood. For example, the efficiency of wind mass transfer of the canonical Bondi-Hoyle accretion mechanism is too low to power…
Symbiotic stars are long-period interacting binary systems in which an evolved red giant star transfers material to its much hotter compact companion. Such a composition places them among the most variable stars. In addition to periodic…
I review the process of mass transfer in a binary system through a stellar wind, with an emphasis on systems containing a red giant. I show how wind accretion in a binary system is different from the usually assumed Bondi-Hoyle…
Both the red giants and the Mira variables in symbiotic systems have systematically higher mass-loss rates than do typical galactic giants and Miras, which suggests that only very evolved giants, and so those with highest mass-loss rates,…
Observational arguments supporting the binary explanation of the long secondary periods (LSP) phenomenon in red giants are presented. Photometry of about 1200 semiregular variables with the LSP in the Large Magellanic Cloud are analyzed…
Ellipsoidal red giant binaries are close binary systems where an unseen, relatively close companion distorts the red giant, leading to light variations as the red giant moves around its orbit. These binaries are likely to be the immediate…
Context. The structure of the wind from the cool giants in symbiotic binaries carries important information for understanding the wind mass transfer to their white dwarf companions and its fuelling. Aims. In this paper, we indicate a…
The stability of mass transfer in binaries with convective giant donors remains an open question in modern astrophysics. There is a significant discrepancy between what the existing methods predict for a response to mass loss of the giant…
The recent discovery of long-period eccentric binaries hosting a He-WD or a sdB star has been challenging binary-star modelling. Based on accurate determinations of the stellar and orbital parameters for IP Eri, a K0 + He-WD system, we…
We analyze the historical light curve of the symbiotic star YY Her, from 1890 up to December 2005. A secular declining trend is detected, at a rate of ~.01 magn in 1000 d, suggesting that the system could belong to the sub-class of…
Observational indications of wind-mass transfer from an evolved giant to its distant white dwarf (WD) companion in symbiotic binaries are rare. Here, we present a way to examine the neutral wind from the giant in symbiotic binaries, which…
Massive stars in the red supergiant (RSG) phase are known to undergo strong mass loss through winds and observations indicate that a substantial part of this mass loss could be driven by localised and episodic outflows. Various mechanisms…
Modelling ellipsoidal variables with known distances can lead to exact determination of the masses of both components, even in the absence of eclipses. We present such modelling using light and radial velocity curves of ellipsoidal red…