3D Simulation of the Stellar Wind in SMC X-1

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Session 52 -- Interacting Binaries: Accretion Phenomena
Display presentation, Thursday, January 13, 9:30-6:45, Salons I/II Room (Crystal Gateway)

[52.07] 3D Simulation of the Stellar Wind in SMC X-1

John M. Blondin (North Carolina State University)

SMC X-1 represents a subclass of high-mass X-ray binaries with high X-ray luminosity. In these X-ray luminous systems the X-ray flux is sufficiently intense that any circumstellar gas exposed to the X-ray source is highly ionized. The result of this X-ray photo-ionization is a supression of the radatively-driven wind that would normally be associated with an early-type star like the primary in SMC X-1. However, the stellar wind is not supressed from the shadowed side of the primary, and this shadow wind can contribute a substantial amount of circumstellar gas to the system. We will present 3D time-dependent hydrodynamic simulations of the SMC X-1 system illustrating the presence of this shadow wind. This simulation also illustrates the Bjorkman-Cassinelli effect of focussing a radiatively-driven wind into the plane of the equator when the star is rapidly rotating, as implied if the primary star in SMC X-1 is in synchronous rotation with the binary orbit.

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