Formation Channels for Blue Straggler Stars

In this chapter we consider two formation channels for blue straggler stars: 1) the merger of two single stars via a collision, and 2) those produced via mass transfer within a binary. We review how computer simulations show that stellar collisions are likely to lead to relatively little mass loss and are thus effective in producing a young population of more-massive stars. The number of blue straggler stars produced by collisions will tend to increase with cluster mass. We review how the current population of blue straggler stars produced from primordial binaries decreases with increasing cluster mass. This is because exchange encounters with third, single stars in the most massive clusters tend to reduce the fraction of binaries containing a primary close to the current turn-off mass. Rather, their primaries tend to be somewhat more massive and have evolved off the main sequence, filling their Roche lobes in the past, often converting their secondaries into blue straggler stars (but more than 1 Gyr or so ago and thus they are no longer visible today as blue straggler stars).Comment: Chapter 9, in Ecology of Blue Straggler Stars, H.M.J. Boffin, G. Carraro & G. Beccari (Eds), Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springe

Collisions and close encounters involving massive main-sequence stars

We study close encounters involving massive main sequence stars and the evolution of the exotic products of these encounters as common--envelope systems or possible hypernova progenitors. We show that parabolic encounters between low-- and high--mass stars and between two high--mass stars with small periastrons result in mergers on timescales of a few tens of stellar freefall times (a few tens of hours). We show that such mergers of unevolved low--mass stars with evolved high--mass stars result in little mass loss ($\sim0.01$ M$_{\odot}$) and can deliver sufficient fresh hydrogen to the core of the collision product to allow the collision product to burn for several million years. We find that grazing encounters enter a common--envelope phase which may expel the envelope of the merger product. The deposition of energy in the envelopes of our merger products causes them to swell by factors of $\sim100$. If these remnants exist in very densely-populated environments ($n\gtrsim10^{7}$ pc$^{-3}$), they will suffer further collisions which may drive off their envelopes, leaving behind hard binaries. We show that the products of collisions have cores rotating sufficiently rapidly to make them candidate hypernova/gamma--ray burst progenitors and that $\sim0.1$ of massive stars may suffer collisions, sufficient for such events to contribute significantly to the observed rates of hypernovae and gamma--ray bursts.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, LaTeX, to appear in MNRAS (in press

Tidal stripping as a mechanism for placing globular clusters on wide orbits: the case of MGC1 in M31

The globular clusters of large spiral galaxies can be divided into two populations: one which formed in-situ and one which comprises clusters tidally stripped away from other galaxies. In this paper we investigate the contribution to the outer globular cluster population in the M31 galaxy through donation of clusters from dwarf galaxies. We test this numerically by comparing the contribution of globular clusters from simulated encounters to the observed M31 globular cluster population. To constrain our simulations, we specifically investigate the outermost globular cluster in the M31 system, MGC1. The remote location of MGC1 favours the idea of it being captured, however, the cluster is devoid of features associated with tidal interactions. Hence we separate simulations where tidal features are present and where they are hidden. We find that our simulated encounters can place clusters on MGC1-like orbits. In addition, we find that tidal stripping of clusters from dwarf galaxies leaves them on orbits having a range of separations, broadly matching those observed in M31. We find that the specific energies of globular clusters captured by M31 closely matches those of the incoming host dwarf galaxies. Furthermore, in our simulations we find an equal number of accreted clusters on co-rotating and counter-rotating orbits within M31 and use this to infer the fraction of clusters that has been accreted. We find that even close in roughly 50% of the clusters are accreted, whilst this figure increases to over 80% further out.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Survival of habitable planets in unstable planetary systems

Many observed giant planets lie on eccentric orbits. Such orbits could be the result of strong scatterings with other giant planets. The same dynamical instability that produces these scatterings may also cause habitable planets in interior orbits to become ejected, destroyed, or be transported out of the habitable zone. We say that a habitable planet has resilient habitability if it is able to avoid ejections and collisions and its orbit remains inside the habitable zone. Here we model the orbital evolution of rocky planets in planetary systems where giant planets become dynamically unstable. We measure the resilience of habitable planets as a function of the observed, present-day masses and orbits of the giant planets. We find that the survival rate of habitable planets depends strongly on the giant planet architecture. Equal-mass planetary systems are far more destructive than systems with giant planets of unequal masses. We also establish a link with observation; we find that giant planets with present-day eccentricities higher than 0.4 almost never have a habitable interior planet. For a giant planet with an present-day eccentricity of 0.2 and semimajor axis of 5 AU orbiting a Sun-like star, 50% of the orbits in the habitable zone are resilient to the instability. As semimajor axis increases and eccentricity decreases, a higher fraction of habitable planets survive and remain habitable. However, if the habitable planet has rocky siblings, there is a significant risk of rocky planet collisions that would sterilize the planet.Comment: Accepted to MNRA

How to form planetesimals from mm-sized chondrules and chondrule aggregates

The size distribution of asteroids and Kuiper belt objects in the solar system is difficult to reconcile with a bottom-up formation scenario due to the observed scarcity of objects smaller than $\sim$100 km in size. Instead, planetesimals appear to form top-down, with large $100-1000$ km bodies forming from the rapid gravitational collapse of dense clumps of small solid particles. In this paper we investigate the conditions under which solid particles can form dense clumps in a protoplanetary disk. We use a hydrodynamic code to model the interaction between solid particles and the gas inside a shearing box inside the disk, considering particle sizes from sub-millimeter-sized chondrules to meter-sized rocks. We find that particles down to millimeter sizes can form dense particle clouds through the run-away convergence of radial drift known as the streaming instability. We make a map of the range of conditions (strength of turbulence, particle mass-loading, disk mass, and distance to the star) which are prone to producing dense particle clumps. Finally, we estimate the distribution of collision speeds between mm-sized particles. We calculate the rate of sticking collisions and obtain a robust upper limit on the particle growth timescale of $\sim$$10^5$ years. This means that mm-sized chondrule aggregates can grow on a timescale much smaller than the disk accretion timescale ($\sim$$10^6 - 10^7$ years). Our results suggest a pathway from the mm-sized grains found in primitive meteorites to fully formed asteroids. We speculate that asteroids may form from a positive feedback loop in which coagualation leads to particle clumping driven by the streaming instability. This clumping, in turn reduces collision speeds and enhances coagulation.} Future simulations should model coagulation and the streaming instability together to explore this feedback loop further.Comment: 20 pages. Accepted for publication in A&

Toward an initial mass function for giant planets

The distribution of exoplanet masses is not primordial. After the initial stage of planet formation is complete, the gravitational interactions between planets can lead to the physical collision of two planets, or the ejection of one or more planets from the system. When this occurs, the remaining planets are typically left in more eccentric orbits. Here we use present-day eccentricities of the observed exoplanet population to reconstruct the initial mass function of exoplanets before the onset of dynamical instability. We developed a Bayesian framework that combines data from N-body simulations with present-day observations to compute a probability distribution for the planets that were ejected or collided in the past. Integrating across the exoplanet population, we obtained an estimate of the initial mass function of exoplanets. We find that the ejected planets are primarily sub-Saturn type planets. While the present-day distribution appears to be bimodal, with peaks around $\sim 1 M_{\rm J}$ and $\sim 20 M_\oplus$, this bimodality does not seem to be primordial. Instead, planets around $\sim 60 M_\oplus$ appear to be preferentially removed by dynamical instabilities. Attempts to reproduce exoplanet populations using population synthesis codes should be mindful of the fact that the present population has been depleted of intermediate-mass planets. Future work should explore how the system architecture and multiplicity might alter our results.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures; submitted to MNRA

Investigating stellar-mass black hole kicks

We investigate whether stellar-mass black holes have to receive natal kicks in order to explain the observed distribution of low-mass X-ray binaries containing black holes within our Galaxy. Such binaries are the product of binary evolution, where the massive primary has exploded forming a stellar-mass black hole, probably after a common envelope phase where the system contracted down to separations of order 10-30 Rsun. We perform population synthesis calculations of these binaries, applying both kicks due to supernova mass-loss and natal kicks to the newly-formed black hole. We then integrate the trajectories of the binary systems within the Galactic potential. We find that natal kicks are in fact necessary to reach the large distances above the Galactic plane achieved by some binaries. Further, we find that the distribution of natal kicks would seem to be similar to that of neutron stars, rather than one where the kick velocities are reduced by the ratio of black hole to neutron-star mass (i.e. where the kicks have the same momentum). This result is somewhat surprising; in many pictures of stellar-mass black-hole formation, one might have expected black holes to receive kicks having the same momentum (rather than the same speed) as those given to neutron stars.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Formation of the binary pulsars J1141-6545 and B2023+46

The binaries PSR J1141-6545 and PSR B2303+46 each appear to contain a white dwarf which formed before the neutron star. We describe an evolutionary pathway to produce these two systems. In this scenario, the primary transfers its envelope onto the secondary which is then the more massive of the two stars, and indeed sufficiently massive later to produce a neutron star via a supernova. The core of the primary produces a massive white dwarf which enters into a common envelope with the core of the secondary when the latter evolves off the main sequence. During the common envelope phase, the white dwarf and the core of the secondary spiral together as the envelope is ejected. The evolutionary history of PSR J1141-6545 and PSR B2303+46 differ after this phase. In the case of PSR J1141--6545, the secondary (now a helium star) evolves into contact transferring its envelope onto the white dwarf. We propose that the vast majority of this material is in fact ejected from the system. The remains of the secondary then explode as a supernova producing a neutron star. Generally the white dwarf and neutron star will remain bound in tight, often eccentric, systems resembling PSR J1141-6545. These systems will spiral in and merge on a relatively short timescale and may make a significant contribution to the population of gamma ray burst progenitors. In PSR B2303+46, the helium-star secondary and white dwarf never come into contact. Rather the helium star loses its envelope via a wind, which increases the binary separation slightly. Only a small fraction of such systems will remain bound when the neutron star is formed (as the systems are wider). Those systems which are broken up will produce a population of high-velocity white dwarfs and neutron stars.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures; MNRAS in pres

The stars of the galactic center

We consider the origin of the so-called S stars orbiting the supermassive black hole at the very center of the Galaxy. These are usually assumed to be massive main-sequence stars. We argue instead that they are the remnants of low-to-intermediate mass red giants which have been scattered on to near-radial orbits and tidally stripped as they approach the central black hole. Such stars retain only low-mass envelopes and thus have high effective temperatures. Our picture simultaneously explains why S stars have tightly-bound orbits, and the observed depletion of red giants in the very center of the Galaxy.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, ApJ Letters, in pres