Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Jul 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007hst..prop11224k&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #11224. Cycle 16
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Wind accretion is one of the most common yet poorly understood phenomena in astrophysics. A key step toward advancing our understanding of physical processes and accretion geometries in wind accreting systems is direct imaging of the individual components and mass flows. The nearby symbiotic binary Mira AB, composed of an AGB donor star and an accreting compact companion, is a unique target since it can be easily spatially resolved with the HST, and thus serves as a perfect test laboratory for accretion studies in wind interacting systems. We propose to carry out WFPC2 observations of Mira AB following the HST and Chandra detections of an unprecedented outburst from the cool giant, and the discovery of an accretion stream showing for the first time evidence for a direct mass transfer between the components in a wind accreting system. High-angular-resolution multiwavelength imaging at UV /optical wavelengths will allow us to determine the properties of the ejected material as it flows throughout the binary and interacts with the Mira A circumstellar material and wind; the physical characteristics of mass transfer in this system and especially the role of the accretion stream between Mira A and Mira B; and the response of the system to the increased accretion rate onto Mira B following the outburst. These results will provide crucial inputs and quantitative constraints to models of wind interacting systems and will also anchor our understanding of accretion processes in a wide range of interacting binaries that cannot be currently resolved, including in other symbiotics and more exotic systems such as accreting black holes and neutron stars in high-mass X-ray binaries.;
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