Hydrodynamics of Mass Transfer and Accretion in Close Binary Systems With Compact Objects
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Date
2003-10-31
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Abstract
Most stars are formed in binary or multiple systems. Many of these stars will undergo some period of mass transfer at some point during their lifetimes. Hence it is useful to understand the dynamics of mass transfer in binary star systems in order to better understand the current population of stars in the Galaxy and their evolution. A natural class of objects for study are the close binary stars that contain compact objects such as neutron stars or black holes. These systems are bright X-ray emitters, allowing us to study the circumstellar gas within them. We use numerical hydrodynamic modeling to study mass transfer processes in the high-mass X-ray binaries, including the evolutionary sequence between wind fed and disk fed systems, elliptical orbit X-ray binaries, and the global dynamics of LMC X-4 in 3D. We also investigate the properties of high resolution 3D accretion disks, including transport via global wave modes, the effects of tidal stream impact, and the fluid response of tilted disks.
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close binaries, accretion, hydrodynamics, mass transfer
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PhD
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Physics
