An Interacting Binary System Powers Precessing Outflows of an Evolved Star

Stars are generally spherical, yet their gaseous envelopes often appear non-spherical when ejected near the end of their lives. This quirk is most notable during the planetary nebula phase when these envelopes become ionized. Interactions among stars in a binary system are suspected to cause the asy...

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Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Boffin, Henri M J, Miszalski, Brent, Rauch, Thomas, Jones, David, Corradi, Romano L M, Napiwotzki, Ralf, Day-Jones, Avril C, Koeppen, Joachim
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 09.11.2012
Subjects
Accretion disks
Binary stars
Binary system
Companion stars
Envelopes
Outflow
Physics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
Physics - Computational Physics
Physics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Planetary nebulae
Stellar evolution
Stellar system evolution
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Summary:Stars are generally spherical, yet their gaseous envelopes often appear non-spherical when ejected near the end of their lives. This quirk is most notable during the planetary nebula phase when these envelopes become ionized. Interactions among stars in a binary system are suspected to cause the asymmetry. In particular, a precessing accretion disk around a companion is believed to launch point-symmetric jets, as seen in the prototype Fleming 1. Our discovery of a post common-envelope binary nucleus in Fleming 1 confirms that this scenario is highly favorable. Similar binary interactions are therefore likely to explain these kinds of outflows in a large variety of systems.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1211.2200