Long-Term Evolution of Massive-Star Post-Common Envelope Circumbinary Disks and the Environments of Fast Luminous Transients

Abstract

If the envelope of a massive star is not entirely removed during common envelope (CE) interaction with an orbiting compact (e.g., black hole [BH] or neutron star [NS]) companion, the residual bound material eventually cools, forming a centrifugally-supported disk around the binary containing the stripped He core. We present a time-dependent height-integrated model for the long-term evolution of post-CE circumbinary disks (CBD), accounting for mass and angular momentum exchange with the binary and irradiation heating by the He core and photoevaporation wind mass-loss. A large fraction of the CBD's mass is accreted prior to its outwards viscous spreading and wind-dispersal on a timescale ~10^{4}-10^{5} yr, driving significant changes in the binary separation, even for disks containing ~ 10% of the original envelope mass. Insofar that the CBD lifetime is comparable to the thermal (and, potentially, nuclear) timescale of the He core, over which a second mass-transfer episode onto the companion can occur, the presence of the CBD could impact the stability of this key phase. Disruption of the He core by the BH/NS would result in a jetted energetic explosion into the dense gaseous CBD (<~10^{15} cm) and its wind (>~ 10^{16} cm), consistent with the environments of luminous fast blue optical transients like AT2018cow. Evolved He cores which undergo core-collapse still embedded in their CBD could generate Type Ibn/Icn supernovae. Thousands of dusty wind-shrouded massive-star CBD may be detectable as extragalactic luminous infrared sources with the Roman Space Telescope; synchrotron radio nebulae powered by the CBD-fed BH/NS may accompany these systems.