Reframing the Wide Eccentric Binary Problem: Eccentricity as a Probe of Mass-transfer Physics

Abstract

Observations of wide post-interaction binaries show an unexpected feature; orbital eccentricity, which is not understood theoretically. A promising resolution to this long-standing puzzle is eccentric mass transfer (MT). Here the first complete framework for MT in orbits with arbitrary eccentricity, the general mass-transfer (GeMT) model, is confronted with the latest observations of hot subdwarfs of spectral type B (sdB) with main-sequence (MS) companions in wide orbits. SdBs are excellent benchmarks for binary evolution models, since their progenitors provide unique constraints on their formation histories. We isolate the effects of eccentric MT from other physical process and we show that it explains the observed orbital-parameter distributions and their correlations seen in wide sdB+MS binaries. To quantitatively constrain their orbital parameters, stellar evolution and tides should be included in future studies, yet it is encouraging that the GeMT model provides the first mechanism that qualitatively reproduces the observed distributions. We further demonstrate that post-MT eccentricities depend directly on key MT parameters, including transferred mass, accretion efficiency, and angular momentum loss. Given the multitude of eccentric post-MT binaries with components ranging from low- to high-mass stars to compact objects, we propose that post-MT eccentricities offer a new window onto binary evolution, presenting a powerful tool to constrain highly uncertain binary-evolution parameters and mass-transfer formation histories across diverse populations. Post-MT eccentricity should therefore be embraced as a key observable, rather than treated as a problem to be corrected.