arXiv subjects

Frederic A. Rasio

Publications and source records attributed to Frederic A. Rasio.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Extreme orbital evolution from hierarchical secular coupling of two giant planets

Observations of exoplanets over the last two decades have revealed a new class of Jupiter-size planets with orbital periods of a few days, the so-called "hot Jupiters". Recent measurements using the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect have shown that many (~ 50%) of these planets are misaligned; furthermore, some (~ 15%) are even retrograde with respect to the stellar spin axis. Motivated by these observations, we explore the possibility of forming retrograde orbits in hierarchical triple configurations consisting of a star-planet inner pair with another giant planet, or brown dwarf, in a much wider orbit. Recently Naoz et al. (2011) showed that in such a system, the inner planet's orbit can flip back and forth from prograde to retrograde, and can also reach extremely high eccentricities. Here we map a significant part of the parameter space of dynamical outcomes for these systems. We derive strong constraints on the orbital configurations for the outer perturber that could lead to the formation of hot Jupiters with misaligned or retrograde orbits. We focus only on the secular evolution, neglecting other dynamical effects such as mean-motion resonances, as well as all dissipative forces. For example, with an inner Jupiter-like planet initially on a nearly circular orbit at 5 AU, we show that a misaligned hot Jupiter is likely to be formed in the presence of a more massive planetary companion (> 2 MJ) within 140 AU of the inner system, with mutual inclination 50 degrees and eccentricity above 0.25. This is in striking contrast to the test-particle approximation, where an almost perpendicular configuration can still cause large eccentricity excitations, but flips of an inner Jupiter-like planet are much less likely to occur. The constraints we derive can be used to guide future observations, and, in particular, searches for more distant companions in systems containing a hot Jupiter.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2013

Stellar Collisions and Blue Straggler Stars in Dense Globular Clusters

Blue straggler stars (BSS) are abundantly observed in all Galactic globular clusters (GGC) where data exist. However, observations alone cannot reveal the relative importance of various formation channels or the typical formation times for this well studied population of anomalous stars. Using a state-of-the-art Hénon-type Monte Carlo code that includes all relevant physical processes, we create 128 models with properties typical of the observed GGCs. These models include realistic numbers of single and binary stars, use observationally motivated initial conditions, and span large ranges in central density, concentration, binary fraction, and mass. Their properties can be directly compared with those of observed GGCs. We can easily identify the BSSs in our models and determine their formation channels and birth times. We find that for central densities above ~10^3 Msun/pc^3 the dominant formation channel is stellar collisions while for lower density clusters, mass transfer in binaries provides a significant contribution (up to ~ 60% in our models). The majority of these collisions are binary-mediated, occurring during 3-body and 4-body interactions. As a result a strong correlation between the specific frequency of BSSs and the binary fraction in a cluster can be seen in our models. We find that the number of BSSs in the core shows only a weak correlation with the collision rate estimator Γtraditionally used by observers, in agreement with the latest Hubble Space Telescope (ACS) data. Using an idealized "full mixing" prescription for collision products, our models indicate that the BSSs observed today may have formed several Gyrs ago. However, denser clusters tend to have younger (~1 Gyr) BSSs.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

Mock Observations of Blue Stragglers in Globular Cluster Models

We created artificial color-magnitude diagrams of Monte Carlo dynamical models of globular clusters, and then used observational methods to determine the number of blue stragglers in those clusters. We compared these blue stragglers to various cluster properties, mimicking work that has been done for blue stragglers in Milky Way globular clusters to determine the dominant formation mechanism(s) of this unusual stellar population. We find that a mass-based prescription for selecting blue stragglers will choose approximately twice as many blue stragglers than a selection criterion that was developed for observations of real clusters. However, the two numbers of blue stragglers are well-correlated, so either selection criterion can be used to characterize the blue straggler population of a cluster. We confirm previous results that the simplified prescription for the evolution of a collision or merger product in the BSE code overestimates their lifetimes. We show that our model blue stragglers follow similar trends with cluster properties (core mass, binary fraction, total mass, collision rate) as the true Milky Way blue stragglers, as long as we restrict ourselves to model clusters with an initial binary fraction higher than 5%. We also show that, in contrast to earlier work, the number of blue stragglers in the cluster core does have a weak dependence on the collisional parameter Gamma in both our models and in Milky Way globular clusters.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

Introducing CAFein, a New Computational Tool for Stellar Pulsations and Dynamic Tides

Here we present CAFein, a new computational tool for investigating radiative dissipation of dynamic tides in close binaries and of non-adiabatic, non-radial stellar oscillations in isolated stars in the linear regime. For the latter, CAFein computes the non-adiabatic eigenfrequencies and eigenfunctions of detailed stellar models. The code is based on the so-called Riccati method, a numerical algorithm that has been successfully applied to a variety of stellar pulsators, and which doesn't suffer of the major drawbacks of commonly used shooting and relaxation schemes. Here we present an extension of the Riccati method to investigate dynamic tides in close binaries. We demonstrate CAFein's capabilities as a stellar pulsation code both in the adiabatic and non-adiabatic regime, by reproducing previously published eigenfrequencies of a polytrope, and by successfully identifying the unstable modes of a stellar model in the $β$ Cephei/SPB region of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Finally, we verify CAFein's behavior in the dynamic tides regime by investigating the effects of dynamic tides on the eigenfunctions and orbital and spin evolution of massive Main Sequence stars in eccentric binaries, and of hot Jupiter host stars. The plethora of asteroseismic data provided by the NASA's Kepler satellite, some of which include the direct detection of tidally excited stellar oscillations, make CAFein quite timely. Furthermore, the increasing number of observed short-period detached double white dwarfs (WD) and the observed orbital decay in the tightest of such binaries open up a new possibility of investigating WD interiors through the effects of tides on their orbital evolution

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2013

Secular Dynamics in Hierarchical Three-Body Systems

The secular approximation for the evolution of hierarchical triple configurations has proven to be very useful in many astrophysical contexts, from planetary to triple-star systems. In this approximation the orbits may change shape and orientation, on time scales longer than the orbital time scales, but the semi major axes are constant. For example, for highly inclined triple systems, the Kozai-Lidov mechanism can produce large-amplitude oscillations of the eccentricities and inclinations. Here we revisit the secular dynamics of hierarchical triple systems. We derive the secular evolution equations to octupole order in Hamiltonian perturbation theory. Our derivation corrects an error in some previous treatments of the problem that implicitly assumed a conservation of the z-component of the angular momentum of the inner orbit (i.e., parallel to the total angular momentum of the system). Already to quadrupole order, our results show new behaviors including the possibility for a system to oscillate from prograde to retrograde orbits. At the octupole order, for an eccentric outer orbit, the inner orbit can reach extremely high eccentricities and undergo chaotic flips in its orientation. We discuss applications to a variety of astrophysical systems, from stellar triples to merging compact binaries and planetary systems. Our results agree with those of previous studies done to quadrupole order only in the limit in which one of the inner two bodies is a massless test particle and the outer orbit is circular;our results agree with previous studies at octupole order for the eccentricity evolution, but not for the inclination evolution.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2013

Retention of Stellar-Mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters

Globular clusters should be born with significant numbers of stellar-mass black holes (BHs). It has been thought for two decades that very few of these BHs could be retained through the cluster lifetime. With masses ~10 MSun, BHs are ~20 times more massive than an average cluster star. They segregate into the cluster core, where they may eventually decouple from the remainder of the cluster. The small-N core then evaporates on a short timescale. This is the so-called Spitzer instability. Here we present the results of a full dynamical simulation of a globular cluster containing many stellar-mass BHs with a realistic mass spectrum. Our Monte Carlo simulation code includes detailed treatments of all relevant stellar evolution and dynamical processes. Our main finding is that old globular clusters could still contain many BHs at present. In our simulation, we find no evidence for the Spitzer instability. Instead, most of the BHs remain well-mixed with the rest of the cluster, with only the innermost few tens of BHs segregating significantly. Over the 12 Gyr evolution, fewer than half of the BHs are dynamically ejected through strong binary interactions in the cluster core. The presence of BHs leads to long-term heating of the cluster, ultimately producing a core radius on the high end of the distribution for Milky Way globular clusters (and those of other galaxies). A crude extrapolation from our model suggests that the BH--BH merger rate from globular clusters could be comparable to the rate in the field.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2012

Understanding the Dynamical State of Globular Clusters: Core-Collapsed vs Non Core-Collapsed

We study the dynamical evolution of globular clusters using our Hénon-type Monte Carlo code for stellar dynamics including all relevant physics such as two-body relaxation, single and binary stellar evolution, Galactic tidal stripping, and strong interactions such as physical collisions and binary mediated scattering. We compute a large database of several hundred models starting from broad ranges of initial conditions guided by observations of young and massive star clusters. We show that these initial conditions very naturally lead to present day clusters with properties including the central density, core radius, half-light radius, half-mass relaxation time, and cluster mass, that match well with those of the old Galactic globular clusters. In particular, we can naturally reproduce the bimodal distribution in observed core radii separating the "core-collapsed" vs the "non core-collapsed" clusters. We see that the core-collapsed clusters are those that have reached or are about to reach the equilibrium "binary burning" phase. The non core-collapsed clusters are still undergoing gravo-thermal contraction.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2012

A Parallel Monte Carlo Code for Simulating Collisional N-body Systems

We present a new parallel code for computing the dynamical evolution of collisional N-body systems with up to N~10^7 particles. Our code is based on the the Henon Monte Carlo method for solving the Fokker-Planck equation, and makes assumptions of spherical symmetry and dynamical equilibrium. The principal algorithmic developments involve optimizing data structures, and the introduction of a parallel random number generation scheme, as well as a parallel sorting algorithm, required to find nearest neighbors for interactions and to compute the gravitational potential. The new algorithms we introduce along with our choice of decomposition scheme minimize communication costs and ensure optimal distribution of data and workload among the processing units. The implementation uses the Message Passing Interface (MPI) library for communication, which makes it portable to many different supercomputing architectures. We validate the code by calculating the evolution of clusters with initial Plummer distribution functions up to core collapse with the number of stars, N, spanning three orders of magnitude, from 10^5 to 10^7. We find that our results are in good agreement with self-similar core-collapse solutions, and the core collapse times generally agree with expectations from the literature. Also, we observe good total energy conservation, within less than 0.04% throughout all simulations. We analyze the performance of the code, and demonstrate near-linear scaling of the runtime with the number of processors up to 64 processors for N=10^5, 128 for N=10^6 and 256 for N=10^7. The runtime reaches a saturation with the addition of more processors beyond these limits which is a characteristic of the parallel sorting algorithm. The resulting maximum speedups we achieve are approximately 60x, 100x, and 220x, respectively.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2012

Planets in Open Clusters Detectable by Kepler

While hundreds of planets have been discovered around field stars, only a few are known in star clusters. To explain the lack of short-period giant planets in globular clusters (GC), such as 47 Tucane and ω Centauri, it has been suggested that their low metallicities may have prevented planet formation. Alternatively, the high rates of close stellar encounters in these clusters may have influenced the formation and subsequent evolution of planetary systems. How common are planets in clusters around normal main-sequence stars? Here we consider whether this question can be addressed using data from the Kepler mission. The Kepler field of view contains 4 low-density (relative to GCs) open clusters where the metallicities are about solar (or even higher) and stellar encounters are much less frequent than in typical GCs. We provide detailed $N$-body models and show that most planets in Kepler-detectable orbits are not significantly perturbed by stellar encounters in these open clusters. We focus on the most massive cluster, NGC 6791, which has super-solar metallicity, and find that if planets formed in this cluster at the same frequency as observed in the field, Kepler could detect 1 -- 20 transiting planets depending on the planet-size distribution and the duration of data collection. Due to the large distance to NGC 6791 Kepler will have to search relatively faint ($K_p<20$) stars for the full extended mission to achieve such a yield.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2012

Constraining Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters

Decades after the first predictions of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in globular clusters (GCs) there is still no unambiguous observational evidence for their existence. The most promising signatures for IMBHs are found in the cores of GCs, where the evidence now comes from the stellar velocity distribution, the surface density profile, and, for very deep observations, the mass-segregation profile near the cluster center. However, interpretation of the data, and, in particular, constraints on central IMBH masses, require the use of detailed cluster dynamical models. Here we present results from Monte Carlo cluster simulations of GCs that harbor IMBHs. As an example of application, we compare velocity dispersion, surface brightness and mass-segregation profiles with observations of the GC M10, and constrain the mass of a possible central IMBH in this cluster. We find that, although M10 does not seem to possess a cuspy surface density profile, the presence of an IMBH with a mass up to 0.75% of the total cluster mass, corresponding to about 600 Msun, cannot be excluded. This is also in agreement with the surface brightness profile, although we find it to be less constraining, as it is dominated by the light of giants, causing it to fluctuate significantly. We also find that the mass-segregation profile cannot be used to discriminate between models with and without IMBH. The reason is that M10 is not yet dynamically evolved enough for the quenching of mass segregation to take effect. Finally, detecting a velocity dispersion cusp in clusters with central densities as low as in M10 is extremely challenging, and has to rely on only 20-40 bright stars. It is only when stars with masses down to 0.3 Msun are included that the velocity cusp is sampled close enough to the IMBH for a significant increase above the core velocity dispersion to become detectable.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2012

On the Formation of Hot Jupiters in Stellar Binaries

We study the production of Hot Jupiters (HJs) in stellar binaries. We show that the "eccentric Kozai-Lidov" (EKL) mechanism can play a key role in the dynamical evolution of a star-planet-star triple system. We run a large set of Monte Carlo simulations including the secular evolution of the orbits, general relativistic precession, and tides, and we determine the semi-major axis, eccentricity, inclination and spin-orbit angle distributions of the HJs that are produced. We explore the effect of different tidal friction parameters on the results. We find that the efficiency of forming HJs when taking the EKL mechanism into account is higher then previously estimated. Accounting for the frequency of stellar binaries, we find that this production mechanism can account for about 30% of the observed HJ population. Current observations of spin-orbit angles are consistent with this mechanism producing \sim 30% of all HJs, and up to 100% of the misaligned systems. Based on the properties of binaries without a HJ in our simulations, we predict the existence of many Jupiter-like planets with moderately eccentric and inclined orbits and semi-major axes of several AU.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2012

Formation of Massive Black Holes in Dense Star Clusters. II. IMF and Primordial Mass Segregation

A promising mechanism to form intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) is the runaway merger in dense star clusters, where main-sequence stars collide and form a very massive star (VMS), which then collapses to a black hole. In this paper we study the effects of primordial mass segregation and the importance of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) on the runaway growth of VMSs using a dynamical Monte Carlo code for N-body systems with N as high as 10^6 stars. Our code now includes an explicit treatment of all stellar collisions. We place special emphasis on the possibility of top-heavy IMFs, as observed in some very young massive clusters. We find that both primordial mass segregation and the shape of the IMF affect the rate of core collapse of star clusters and thus the time of the runaway. When we include primordial mass segregation we generally see a decrease in core collapse time (tcc). Moreover, primordial mass segregation increases the average mass in the core, thus reducing the central relaxation time, which also decreases tcc. The final mass of the VMS formed is always close to \sim 10^-3 of the total cluster mass, in agreement with the previous studies and is reminiscent of the observed correlation between the central black hole mass and the bulge mass of the galaxies. As the degree of primordial mass segregation is increased, the mass of the VMS increases at most by a factor of 3. Flatter IMFs generally increase the average mass in the whole cluster, which increases tcc. For the range of IMFs investigated in this paper, this increase in tcc is to some degree balanced by stellar collisions, which accelerate core collapse. Thus there is no significant change in tcc for the somewhat flatter global IMFs observed in very young massive clusters.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2012

Binary Neutron Star Mergers

We review the current status of studies of the coalescence of binary neutron star systems. We begin with a discussion of the formation channels of merging binaries and we discuss the most recent theoretical predictions for merger rates. Next, we turn to the quasi-equilibrium formalisms that are used to study binaries prior to the merger phase and to generate initial data for fully dynamical simulations. The quasi-equilibrium approximation has played a key role in developing our understanding of the physics of binary coalescence and, in particular, of the orbital instability processes that can drive binaries to merger at the end of their lifetimes. We then turn to the numerical techniques used in dynamical simulations, including relativistic formalisms, (magneto-)hydrodynamics, gravitational-wave extraction techniques, and nuclear microphysics treatments. This is followed by a summary of the simulations performed across the field to date, including the most recent results from both fully relativistic and microphysically detailed simulations. Finally, we discuss the likely directions for the field as we transition from the first to the second generation of gravitational-wave interferometers and while supercomputers reach the petascale frontier.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2012

Monte Carlo Simulations of Globular Cluster Evolution. VI. The Influence of an Intermediate Mass Black Hole

We present results of a series of Monte Carlo simulations investigating the imprint of a central intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) on the structure of a globular cluster. We investigate the three-dimensional and projected density profiles, and stellar disruption rates for idealized as well as realistic cluster models, taking into account a stellar mass spectrum and stellar evolution, and allowing for a larger, more realistic, number of stars than was previously possible with direct N-body methods. We compare our results to other N-body and Fokker-Planck simulations published previously. We find, in general, very good agreement for the overall cluster structure and dynamical evolution between direct N-body simulations and our Monte Carlo simulations. Significant differences exist in the number of stars that are tidally disrupted by the IMBH, which is most likely an effect of the wandering motion of the IMBH, not included in the Monte Carlo scheme. These differences, however, are negligible for the final IMBH masses in realistic cluster models as the disruption rates are generally much lower than for single-mass clusters. As a direct comparison to observations we construct a detailed model for the cluster NGC 5694, which is known to possess a central surface brightness cusp consistent with the presence of an IMBH. We find that not only the inner slope but also the outer part of the surface brightness profile agree well with observations. However, there is only a slight preference for models harboring an IMBH compared to models without.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2011

Twin Binaries: Studies of Stability, Mass Transfer, and Coalescence

Motivated by suggestions that binaries with almost equal-mass components ("twins") play an important role in the formation of double neutron stars and may be rather abundant among binaries, we study the stability of synchronized close and contact binaries with identical components in circular orbits. In particular, we investigate the dependency of the innermost stable circular orbit on the core mass, and we study the coalescence of the binary that occurs at smaller separations. For twin binaries composed of convective main-sequence stars, subgiants, or giants with low mass cores (M_c <~0.15M, where M is the mass of a component), a secular instability is reached during the contact phase, accompanied by a dynamical mass transfer instability at the same or at a slightly smaller orbital separation. Binaries that come inside this instability limit transfer mass gradually from one component to the other and then coalesce quickly as mass is lost through the outer Lagrangian points. For twin giant binaries with moderate to massive cores (M_c >~0.15M), we find that stable contact configurations exist at all separations down to the Roche limit, when mass shedding through the outer Lagrangian points triggers a coalescence of the envelopes and leaves the cores orbiting in a central tight binary. In addition to the formation of binary neutron stars, we also discuss the implications of our results for the production of planetary nebulae with double degenerate central binaries.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2011

Hot Jupiters from Secular Planet--Planet Interactions

About 25 per cent of `hot Jupiters' (extrasolar Jovian-mass planets with close-in orbits) are actually orbiting counter to the spin direction of the star. Perturbations from a distant binary star companion can produce high inclinations, but cannot explain orbits that are retrograde with respect to the total angular momentum of the system. Such orbits in a stellar context can be produced through secular (that is, long term) perturbations in hierarchical triple-star systems. Here we report a similar analysis of planetary bodies, including both octupole-order effects and tidal friction, and find that we can produce hot Jupiters in orbits that are retrograde with respect to the total angular momentum. With distant stellar mass perturbers, such an outcome is not possible. With planetary perturbers, the inner orbit's angular momentum component parallel to the total angular momentum need not be constant. In fact, as we show here, it can even change sign, leading to a retrograde orbit. A brief excursion to very high eccentricity during the chaotic evolution of the inner orbit allows planet-star tidal interactions to rapidly circularize that orbit, decoupling the planets and forming a retrograde hot Jupiter.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2011

Angular Momentum Changes Due to Direct Impact Accretion in a Simplified Binary System

We model a circular mass-transferring binary system to calculate the exchange of angular momentum between stellar spins and the orbit due to direct impact of the mass transfer stream onto the surface of the accretor. We simulate mass transfer by calculating the ballistic motion of a point mass ejected from the $L_1$ point of the donor star, conserving the total linear and angular momentum of the system, and treating the stars as uniform density spheres with main sequence radii determined by their masses. We show that, contrary to previous assumptions in the literature, direct impact does not always act as a sink of orbital angular momentum and may in fact increase it by facilitating the transfer of angular momentum from the spin of the donor to the orbit. Here, we show an example of the exchange of angular momentum, as well as a measure of the orbital angular momentum changes for a variety of binary star systems with main sequence components.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2010

How planet-planet scattering can create high-inclination as well as long-period orbits

Recent observations have revealed two new classes of planetary orbits. Rossiter- Mclaughlin (RM) measurements have revealed hot Jupiters in high-obliquity orbits. In addition, direct-imaging has discovered giant planets at large (~ 100 AU) separations via direct-imaging technique. Simple-minded disk-migration scenarios are inconsistent with the high-inclination (and even retrograde) orbits as seen in recent RM measurements. Furthermore, forming giant planets at large semi-major axis (a) may be challenging in the core-accretion paradigm. We perform many N-body simulations to explore the two above-mentioned orbital architectures. Planet-planet scattering in a multi-planet system can naturally excite orbital inclinations. Planets can also get scattered to large distances. Large-a planetary orbits created from planet-planet scattering are expected to have high eccentricities (e). Theoretical models predict that the observed long-period planets, such as Fomalhaut-b have moderate e \approx 0.3. Interestingly, these are also in systems with disks. We find that if a massive-enough outer disk is present, a scattered planet may be circularized at large a via dynamical friction from the disk and repeated scattering of the disk particles.

astro-ph.EP↗