The Hydrodynamics of Common Envelope Episodes and the Formation of Close Neutron Star Binaries

Mon, September 28, 2015

A dynamic and crucial phase in the evolution of a binary star system comes when one star engulfs its companion in a shared gaseous envelope. The two stellar cores spiral tighter in response to drag forces. Eventually, they may deposit enough energy and momentum to expel the envelope, leaving behind a binary transformed by orbital tightening and mass accretion. This talk explores the hydrodynamics of flows around an object embedded within a common envelope in order to model the metamorphosis of the neutron star and its binary orbit.