Mass-Orbital Period Distribution of Massive White Dwarfs Formed Through Stable Mass Transfer

Rizhong Zheng; Hongwei Ge; Christopher A Tout; Hailiang Chen; Zhenwei Li; Dengkai Jiang; Chengyuan Li; Zhijia Tian; Bo Ma; Lifu Zhang; Jian Mou; Xuefei Chen; Zhanwen Han

arXiv · 2606.06141

Mass-Orbital Period Distribution of Massive White Dwarfs Formed Through Stable Mass Transfer

Rizhong Zheng·Hongwei Ge·Christopher A Tout·Hailiang Chen·Zhenwei Li·Dengkai Jiang·Chengyuan Li·Zhijia Tian·Bo Ma·Lifu Zhang·Jian Mou·Xuefei Chen·Zhanwen Han

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Abstract

White dwarfs (WDs) in binaries can form through either the stable mass-transfer process or common envelope evolution (CEE). Compared to CEE, the stable mass-transfer process can lead to a distinct mass-orbital period ($M_{\mathrm{WD}}-P_{\mathrm{orb}}$) relation. Thus, this relation of WDs contains the information about the evolution channels. We can study the relation in WD binary systems to determine whether their progenitors undergo a CEE. We use the stellar evolution code MESA as our primary computational tool and adopt the quasi-adiabatic criterion to ensure that our models satisfy the conditions for stable mass transfer. Our study considers different mass-transfer schemes, varying metallicities, and the relation for both low-mass and intermediate-mass progenitors. Previous studies have focused on the relation for low-mass progenitors, which cannot explain some long-period, high-mass WD binaries. Our results show that the relations for intermediate-mass progenitors whose cores remain non-degenerate prior to central helium burning can account for the formation channels of long-period and massive WD binaries.

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Rizhong Zheng, Hongwei Ge, Christopher A Tout, Hailiang Chen, Zhenwei Li, Dengkai Jiang, Chengyuan Li, Zhijia Tian, Bo Ma, Lifu Zhang, Jian Mou, Xuefei Chen, Zhanwen Han. 2026-06-04. Mass-Orbital Period Distribution of Massive White Dwarfs Formed Through Stable Mass Transfer. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.06141

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