Open AccessMasses and angular momenta of contact binary stars
Author(s) -
Gazeas K. D.,
Niarchos P. G.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society: letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.067
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1745-3933
pISSN - 1745-3925
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2006.00182.x
Subject(s) - angular momentum , contact binary , physics , binary number , stars , astrophysics , binary star , binary system , component (thermodynamics) , argument (complex analysis) , astronomy , classical mechanics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , chemistry , biochemistry , arithmetic
Results are presented on component masses and system angular momenta for over 100 low‐temperature contact binaries. It is found that the secondary components in close binary systems are very similar in mass. Our observational evidence strongly supports the argument that the evolutionary process goes from near‐contact binaries to A‐type contact binaries, without any need of mass loss from the system. Furthermore, the evolutionary direction of A‐type into W‐type systems with a simultaneous mass and angular momentum loss is also discussed. The opposite direction of evolution seems to be unlikely, since it requires an increase of the total mass and the angular momentum of the system.