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