5 research outputs found
Asteroseismic effects in close binary stars
Turbulent processes in the convective envelopes of the sun and stars have
been shown to be a source of internal acoustic excitations. In single stars,
acoustic waves having frequencies below a certain cutoff frequency propagate
nearly adiabatically and are effectively trapped below the photosphere where
they are internally reflected. This reflection essentially occurs where the
local wavelength becomes comparable to the pressure scale height. In close
binary stars, the sound speed is a constant on equipotentials, while the
pressure scale height, which depends on the local effective gravity, varies on
equipotentials and may be much greater near the inner Lagrangian point (L_1).
As a result, waves reaching the vicinity of L_1 may propagate unimpeded into
low density regions, where they tend to dissipate quickly due to non-linear and
radiative effects. We study the three dimensional propagation and enhanced
damping of such waves inside a set of close binary stellar models using a WKB
approximation of the acoustic field. We find that these waves can have much
higher damping rates in close binaries, compared to their non-binary
counterparts. We also find that the relative distribution of acoustic energy
density at the visible surface of close binaries develops a ring-like feature
at specific acoustic frequencies and binary separations