No Arabic abstract
The majority of massive stars are in binaries, which implies that many core collapse supernovae (ccSNe) should be binaries at the time of the explosion. Here we show that the three most recent, local (visual) SNe (the Crab, CasA and SN1987A) were not binaries, with limits on the initial mass ratios of q=M2/M1<0.1. No quantitative limits have previously been set for CasA and the Crab, while for SN1987A we merely updated existing limits in view of new estimates of the dust content. The lack of stellar companions to these three ccSNe implies a 90% confidence upper limit on the q>0.1 binary fraction at death of fb<44%. In a passively evolving binary model (meaning no binary interactions), with a flat mass ratio distribution and a Salpeter IMF, the resulting 90% confidence upper limit on the initial binary fraction of F<63% is in considerable tension with observed massive binary statistics. Allowing a significant fraction fM~25% of stellar binaries to merge reduces the tension, with F<63/(1-fM)~81%, but allowing for the significant fraction in higher order systems (triples, etc.) reintroduces the tension. That CasA was not a stellar binary at death also shows that a massive binary companion is not necessary for producing a Type IIb SNe. Much larger surveys for binary companions to Galactic SNe will become feasible with the release of the full Gaia proper motion and parallax catalogs, providing a powerful probe of the statistics of such binaries and their role in massive star evolution, neutron star velocity distributions and runaway stars.
The recent identification of a candidate very massive 70 M(Sun) black hole is at odds with our current understanding of stellar winds and pair-instability supernovae. We investigate alternate explanations for this system by searching the BPASS v2.2 stellar and population synthesis models for those that match the observed properties of the system. We find binary evolution models that match the LB-1 system, at the reported Gaia distance, with more moderate black hole masses of 4 to 7 M(Sun). We also examine the suggestion that the binary motion may have led to an incorrect distance determination by Gaia. We find that the Gaia distance is accurate and that the binary system is consistent with the observation at this distance. Consequently it is highly improbable that the black hole in this system has the extreme mass originally suggested. Instead, it is more likely to be representative of the typical black hole binary population expected in our Galaxy.
We present 22 new (+3 confirmed) cataclysmic variables (CVs) in the non core-collapsed globular cluster 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc). The total number of CVs in the cluster is now 43, the largest sample in any globular cluster so far. For the identifications we used near-ultraviolet (NUV) and optical images from the Hubble Space Telescope, in combination with X-ray results from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. This allowed us to build the deepest NUV CV luminosity function of the cluster to date. We found that the CVs in 47 Tuc are more concentrated towards the cluster center than the main sequence turnoff stars. We compared our results to the CV populations of the core-collapsed globular clusters NGC 6397 and NGC 6752. We found that 47 Tuc has fewer bright CVs per unit mass than those two other clusters. That suggests that dynamical interactions in core-collapsed clusters play a major role creating new CVs. In 47 Tuc, the CV population is probably dominated by primordial and old dynamically formed systems. We estimated that the CVs in 47 Tuc have total masses of approx. 1.4 M_sun. We also found that the X-ray luminosity function of the CVs in the three clusters is bimodal. Additionally, we discuss a possible double degenerate system and an intriguing/unclassified object. Finally, we present four systems that could be millisecond pulsar companions given their X-ray and NUV/optical colors. For one of them we present very strong evidence for being an ablated companion. The other three could be CO- or He-WDs.
We report on the long-term average spin period, rate of change of spin period and X-ray luminosity during outbursts for 42 Be X-ray binary systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We also collect and calculate parameters of each system and use these data to determine that all systems contain a neutron star which is accreting via a disc, rather than a wind, and that if these neutron stars are near spin equilibrium, then over half of them, including all with spin periods over about 100 s, have magnetic fields over the quantum critical level of 4.4x10^13 G. If these neutron stars are not close to spin equilibrium, then their magnetic fields are inferred to be much lower, of the order of 10^6-10^10 G, comparable to the fields of neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries. Both results are unexpected and have implications for the rate of magnetic field decay and the isolated neutron star population.
We highlight the importance of eclipsing double-line binaries in our understanding on star formation and evolution. We review the recent discoveries of low-mass and sub-stellar eclipsing binaries belonging to star-forming regions, open clusters, and globular clusters identified by ground-based surveys and space missions with high-resolution spectroscopic follow-up. These discoveries provide benchmark systems with known distances, metallicities, and ages to calibrate masses and radii predicted by state-of-the-art evolutionary models to a few percent. We report their density and discuss current limitations on the accuracy of the physical parameters. We discuss future opportunities and highlight future guidelines to fill gaps in age and metallicity to improve further our knowledge of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs.
We present new analysis of O-C diagrams variations of three Algol-type eclipsing binary stars AD And, TW Cas and IV Cas. We have used all published minima times (including visual and photographic) as well as new determined ones from our and SuperWasp observations. We determined orbital parameters of the 3rd bodies in the systems with statistically significant errors, using our code based on genetic algorithms and Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation. We confirmed multiple nature of AD And and triple-star model of TW Cas and we proposed quadruple-star model of IV Cas.