The influence of stellar wind mass loss on the evolution of massive close binaries.

Abstract

It is generally accepted that massive (and thus luminous) stars lose mass by stellar wind, driven by radiation force (Lucy and Solomon, 1970; Castor et al. 1975). For the components of massive binary systems, rotational and gravitational effects may act together with the radiation force so as to increase the mass loss rate. Our intention here is to discuss the influence of a stellar wind mass loss on the evolution of massive close binaries. During the Roche lobe overflow phase, mass and angular momentum can leave the system. Possible reasons for mass loss from the system are for example the expansion of the companion due to accretion of the material lost by the mass losing star (Kippenhahn and Meyer-Hofmeister, 1977) or the fact that due to the influence of the radiation force in luminous stars, mass will be lost over the whole surface of the star and not any longer through a possible Lagrangian point as in the case of classical Roche lobe overflow (Vanbeveren, 1978). We have therefore investigated the influence of both processes on binary evolution. Our results are applied to 5 massive X-ray binaries with a possible implication for the existence of massive Wolf Rayet stars with a very close invisible compact companion. A more extended version of this talk is published in Astronomy and Astrophysics (Vanbeveren et al. 1978; Vanbeveren and De Grève, 1978). Their results will be briefly reviewed.