SPH simulations of irradiation-driven warped accretion discs and the long periods in X-ray binaries

Details SPH simulations of irradiation-driven warped accretion discs and the long periods in X-ray binaries SPH simulations of irradiation-driven warped accretion discs and the long periods in X-ray binaries

2010-01-10

arxiv.org/abs/1001.1520v1

MNRAS, Volume 401, Number 2, January 2010, pp. 1275-1289(15)

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

17 pages, 14 figures, shorter abstract (24 lines limit)

Scientific paper

We present three dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) calculations of irradiation-driven warping of accretion discs. Initially unwarped planar discs are unstable to the radiation reaction when the disc is illuminated by a central radiation source. The disc warps and tilts and precesses slowly in a retrograde direction; its shape continuously flexes in response to the changing orientation of the Roche potential. We simulate ten systems: eight X-ray binaries, one cataclysmic variable (CV), and a `generic' low mass X-ray binary (LMXB). We adopt system parameters from observations and tune a single parameter: our model X-ray luminosity ($L_{*}$) to reproduce the observed or inferred super-orbital periods. Without exception, across a wide range of parameter space, we find an astonishingly good match between the observed $L_{X}$ and the model $L_{*}$. We conclude irradiation-driven warping is the mechanism underlying the long periods in X-ray binaries. Our Her X-1 simulation simultaneously reproduces the observed $L_{X}$, the "main-" and "short-high" X-ray states and the orbital inclination. Our simulations of SS 433 give a maximum warp angle of $18.6^{\circ}$, a good match to the cone traced by the jets, but this angle is reached only in the outer disc. In all cases, the overall disc tilt is less than $\degrees{13}$ and the maximum disc warp is less than and or equal to $\degrees{21}$.

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