Publication Date:
2016-07-15
Description:
Be stars are surrounded by outflowing circumstellar matter structured in the form of decretion discs . They are often members of binary systems, where it is expected that the decretion disc interacts both radiatively and gravitationally with the companion. In this work we study how various orbital (period, mass ratio and eccentricity) and disc (viscosity) parameters affect the disc structure in coplanar binaries. The main effects of the secondary on the disc are its truncation and the accumulation of material inwards of truncation. We find two limiting cases with respect to the effects of eccentricity: in circular or nearly circular prograde orbits, the disc maintains a rotating, constant in shape, configuration, which is locked to the orbital phase. The disc structure appears smaller in size, more elongated and more massive for small viscosity parameter, small orbital separation and/or high mass ratio. In highly eccentric orbits, the effects are more complex, with the disc structure strongly dependent on the orbital phase. We also studied the effects of binarity in the disc continuum emission. Since the infrared and radio SED are sensitive to the disc size and density slope, the truncation and matter accumulation result in considerable modifications in the emergent spectrum. We conclude that binarity can serve as an explanation for the variability exhibited in observations of Be stars, and that our model can be used to detect invisible companions.
Print ISSN:
0035-8711
Electronic ISSN:
1365-2966
Topics:
Physics
Permalink
