4 research outputs found
Fast rotating stars resulting from binary evolution will often appear to be single
Rapidly rotating stars are readily produced in binary systems. An accreting
star in a binary system can be spun up by mass accretion and quickly approach
the break-up limit. Mergers between two stars in a binary are expected to
result in massive, fast rotating stars. These rapid rotators may appear as Be
or Oe stars or at low metallicity they may be progenitors of long gamma-ray
bursts.
Given the high frequency of massive stars in close binaries it seems likely
that a large fraction of rapidly rotating stars result from binary interaction.
It is not straightforward to distinguish a a fast rotator that was born as a
rapidly rotating single star from a fast rotator that resulted from some kind
of binary interaction. Rapidly rotating stars resulting from binary interaction
will often appear to be single because the companion tends to be a low mass,
low luminosity star in a wide orbit. Alternatively, they became single stars
after a merger or disruption of the binary system during the supernova
explosion of the primary.
The absence of evidence for a companion does not guarantee that the system
did not experience binary interaction in the past. If binary interaction is one
of the main causes of high stellar rotation rates, the binary fraction is
expected to be smaller among fast rotators. How this prediction depend on
uncertainties in the physics of the binary interactions requires further
investigation.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to be published in the proceedings of IAU 272
"Active OB stars: structure, evolution, mass loss and critical limit", Paris
19-23 July 201