Evolution of supersoft X-ray supply WX Centauri is dominated by magnetic wind, discover researchers

Researchers led by Ph.D. candidate Zang Lei and Prof. Qian Shengbang from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese language Academy of Sciences have found that the orbital evolution of the supersoft X-ray supply WX Centauri (WX Cen) is dominated by the angular momentum loss (AML) pushed by magnetic wind from the donor secondary and from the accretion disk alone or collectively.

This work was printed in The Astrophysical Journal on Feb. 15.

WX Cen is most definitely one of many Galactic counterparts of shut binary supersoft X-ray sources (CBSS), the place mass is transferred from a donor secondary to an enormous white dwarf major through an accretion disk.

To additional examine their mass change and the orbital evolution, the researchers analyzed the orbital interval variation of WX Cen intimately through the use of the continual Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite tv for pc (TESS) mild curves and the photometric observations collected by American Affiliation of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) database. The consequence implies that the orbital interval is constantly lowering.

Furthermore, based mostly on the outcomes of earlier analysis, the researchers estimated that the mass of the donor secondary is about 0.6 photo voltaic mass, when the white dwarf mass is about 0.9 photo voltaic mass.

By contemplating a conservative mass switch from the donor secondary to the white dwarf, the orbital interval of WX Cen must be rising, which is reverse to the noticed steady lower. Subsequently, the researchers speculated that the lower within the interval could be plausibly defined as the results of AML brought on by magnetic wind from the secondary and from the accretion disk alone or collectively.

Based mostly on the above bodily situation, the researchers calculated the connection between the Alfvén radius and mass-loss price of the system. They discovered that if the Alfvén radius of the secondary will get smaller than 20 photo voltaic radius, the mass-loss price required to scale back the orbital interval can be too excessive to be supported by stellar wind loss alone. And the Alfvén radius of the accretion disk is greater than 5.5 photo voltaic radius.