English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

We present three-dimensional local hydrodynamic simulations of flows aroundobjects embedded within stellar envelopes using a "wind tunnel" formalism. Oursimulations model the common envelope dynamical inspiral phase in binary starsystems in terms of dimensionless flow characteristics. We present suites ofsimulations that study the effects of varying the binary mass ratio, stellarstructure, equation of state, relative Mach number of the object's motionthrough the gas, and density gradients across the gravitational focusing scale.For each model, we measure coefficients of accretion and drag experienced bythe embedded object. These coefficients regulate the coupled evolution of theobject's masses and orbital tightening during the dynamical inspiral phase ofthe common envelope. We extrapolate our simulation results to accreting blackholes with masses comparable to that of the population of LIGO black holes. Wedemonstrate that the mass and spin accrued by these black holes per unitorbital tightening are directly related to the ratio of accretion to dragcoefficients. We thus infer that the mass and dimensionless spin of initiallynon-rotating black holes change by of order $1\%$ and 0.05, respectively, in atypical example scenario. Our prediction that the masses and spins of blackholes remain largely unmodified by a common envelope phase aids in theinterpretation of the properties of the growing observed population of mergingbinary black holes. Even if these black holes passed through a common envelopephase during their assembly, features of mass and spin imparted by previousevolutionary epochs should be preserved.

Common Envelope Wind Tunnel: The Effects of Binary Mass Ratio and Implications for the Accretion-Driven Growth of LIGO Binary Black Holes