Abstract
We follow the evolution of an originally widely separated red-giant in orbit with a low mass main sequence star to a cataclysmic binary system. Angular momentum transport via differential rotation leads to a common envelope around the red giant core and the main sequence star. The internal binary separation shrinks by frictional transfer of angular momentum to the extended red giant envelope. This shrinkage continues at nearly constant luminosity until after several hundred years the binary “Roche lobe” cuts into the dense layers of the main sequence star. The envelope will then be lost by a thermal instability. Method and computations for a 5 M⊙ + 1 M⊙ binary are presented elsewhere (Astron. Astrophys. 1979, in press).
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