Is irradiation important for the secular evolution of low-mass X-ray binaries?

Abstract

It is argued that irradiation in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) caused by accretion-generated X-rays can not only change the optical appearance of LMXBs but also their outburst properties and possibly also their long-term evolution. Irradiation during an outburst of the outer parts of the accretion disc in a transient LMXB leads to drastic changes in the outburst properties. As far as the secular evolution of such systems is concerned, these changes can result in enhanced loss of mass and angular momentum from the system and, most important, in neutron star LMXBs in a much less efficient use of the transferred matter to spin up the neutron star to a ms-pulsar. Irradiation of the donor star can destabilize mass transfer and lead to irradiation-driven mass transfer cycles, i.e. to a secular evolution which differs drastically from an evolution in which irradiation is ignored. It is argued that irradiation-driven mass transfer cycles cannot occur in systems which are transient because of disc instabilities, i.e. in particular in long-period LMXBs with a giant donor. It is furthermore shown that for irradiating either the disc or the donor star, direct irradiation alone is insufficient. Rather, indirect irradiation via scattered accretion luminosity must play an important role in transient LMXBs and is, in fact, necessary to destabilize mass transfer in short-period systems by irradiating the donor star. Whether and to what extent irradiation in LMXBs does change their secular evolution depends on a number of unsolved problems which are briefly discussed at the end of this article.