Abstract
Abstract Much theoretical and observational work has been done on stellar winds within binary systems. We present a new solution for a ballistic wind launched from a source in a circular orbit. The solution is that of a single wind—no second wind is included in the system and the shocks that arise are those due to the orbiting wind interacting with itself. Our method emphasizes the curved streamlines in the corotating frame, where the flow is steady-state, allowing us to obtain an exact solution for the mass density at all pre-shock locations. Assuming an initially isotropic wind, fluid elements launched from the interior hemisphere of the wind will be the first to cross other streamlines, resulting in a spiral structure bounded by two shock surfaces. Streamlines from the outer wind hemisphere later intersect these shocks as well. An analytic solution is obtained for the geometry of the two shock surfaces. Although the inner and outer shock surfaces asymptotically trace Archimedean spirals, our tail solution suggests many crossings where the shocks overlap, beyond which the analytic solution cannot be continued. Our solution can be readily extended to an initially anisotropic wind.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have