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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Series

2019

Accretion

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

The Frequency Of Kozai–Lidov Disc Oscillation Driven Giant Outbursts In Be/X-Ray Binaries, Rebecca G. Martin, Alessia Franchini Aug 2019

The Frequency Of Kozai–Lidov Disc Oscillation Driven Giant Outbursts In Be/X-Ray Binaries, Rebecca G. Martin, Alessia Franchini

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

Giant outbursts of Be/X-ray binaries may occur when a Be-star disc undergoes strong eccentricity growth due to the Kozai–Lidov (KL) mechanism. The KL effect acts on a disc that is highly inclined to the binary orbital plane provided that the disc aspect ratio is sufficiently small. The eccentric disc overflows its Roche lobe and material flows from the Be star disc over to the companion neutron star causing X-ray activity. With N-body simulations and steady state decretion disc models we explore system parameters for which a disc in the Be/X-ray binary 4U 0115+634 is KL unstable and the resulting time-scale …


Alignment Of A Circumbinary Disc Around An Eccentric Binary With Application To Kh 15d, Jeremy L. Smallwood, Stephen H. Lubow, Alessia Franchini, Rebecca G. Martin Apr 2019

Alignment Of A Circumbinary Disc Around An Eccentric Binary With Application To Kh 15d, Jeremy L. Smallwood, Stephen H. Lubow, Alessia Franchini, Rebecca G. Martin

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

We analyse the evolution of a mildly inclined circumbinary disc that orbits an eccentric orbit binary by means of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations and linear theory. We show that the alignment process of an initially misaligned circumbinary disc around an eccentric orbit binary is significantly different than around a circular orbit binary and involves tilt oscillations. The more eccentric the binary, the larger the tilt oscillations and the longer it takes to damp these oscillations. A circumbinary disc that is only mildly inclined may increase its inclination by a factor of a few before it moves towards alignment. The …


Generalized Warped Disk Equations, Rebecca G. Martin, Stephen H. Lubow, J. E. Pringle, Alessia Franchini, Zhaohuan Zhu, Stephen Lepp, Rebecca Nealon, C. J. Nixon, David Vallet Apr 2019

Generalized Warped Disk Equations, Rebecca G. Martin, Stephen H. Lubow, J. E. Pringle, Alessia Franchini, Zhaohuan Zhu, Stephen Lepp, Rebecca Nealon, C. J. Nixon, David Vallet

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The manner in which warps in accretion disks evolve depends on the magnitude of the viscosity. ... See full text for complete abstract.


Dust Traps In The Protoplanetary Disk Mwc 758: Two Vortices Produced By Two Giant Planets?, Clement Baruteau, Marcelo Barraza, Sebastian Perez, Simon Casassus, Ruobing Dong, Wladimir Lyra, Sebastian Marino, Valentin Christiaens, Zhaohuan Zhu, Andres Carmona, Florian Debras, Felipe Alarcon Mar 2019

Dust Traps In The Protoplanetary Disk Mwc 758: Two Vortices Produced By Two Giant Planets?, Clement Baruteau, Marcelo Barraza, Sebastian Perez, Simon Casassus, Ruobing Dong, Wladimir Lyra, Sebastian Marino, Valentin Christiaens, Zhaohuan Zhu, Andres Carmona, Florian Debras, Felipe Alarcon

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

Resolved ALMA and VLA observations indicate the existence of two dust traps in the protoplanetary disc MWC 758. By means of two-dimensional gas+dust hydrodynamical simulations post-processed with three-dimensional dust radiative transfer calculations, we show that the spirals in scattered light, the eccentric, asymmetric ring and the crescent-shaped structure in the (sub)millimetre can all be caused by two giant planets: a 1.5-Jupiter mass planet at 35 au (inside the spirals) and a 5-Jupiter mass planet at 140 au (outside the spirals). The outer planet forms a dust-trapping vortex at the inner edge of its gap (at ∼85 au), and the continuum …


Misaligned Accretion Disc Formation Via Kozai-Lidov Oscillations, Alessia Franchini, Rebecca G. Martin, Stephen H. Lubow Feb 2019

Misaligned Accretion Disc Formation Via Kozai-Lidov Oscillations, Alessia Franchini, Rebecca G. Martin, Stephen H. Lubow

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

We investigate the formation and evolution of misaligned accretion discs around the secondary component of a binary through mass transfer driven by Kozai–Lidov (KL) oscillations of the circumprimary disc’s eccentricity and inclination. We perform smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations to study the amount of mass transferred to the secondary star as a function of both the disc and binary parameters. For the range of parameters we explore, we find that increasing the disc aspect ratio, viscosity parameter, and initial inclination as well as decreasing the binary mass ratio leads to larger amount of mass transfer, up to a maximum of about …


Late Delivery Of Nitrogen To The Earth, Cheng Chen, Jeremy L. Smallwood, Rebecca G. Martin, Mario Livio Jan 2019

Late Delivery Of Nitrogen To The Earth, Cheng Chen, Jeremy L. Smallwood, Rebecca G. Martin, Mario Livio

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

Atmospheric nitrogen may be a necessary ingredient for the habitability of a planet as its presence helps to prevent water loss from a planet. The present-day nitrogen isotopic ratio, N-15/N-14, in the Earth's atmosphere is a combination of the primitive Earth's ratio and the ratio that might have been delivered in comets and asteroids. Asteroids have a nitrogen isotopic ratio that is close to the Earth's. This indicates either a similar formation environment to the Earth or that the main source of nitrogen was delivery by asteroids. However, according to geological records, the Earth's atmosphere could have been enriched in …