Bibcode
Tout, C. A.; Karakas, A. I.; Lattanzio, J. C.; Hurley, J. R.; Pols, O. R.
Bibliographical reference
Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars, IAU Symposium #191, Edited by T. Le Bertre, A. Lebre, and C. Waelkens. ISBN: 1-886733-90-2 LOC: 99-62044. p. 447
Advertised on:
0
1999
Citations
2
Refereed citations
2
Description
At least 60% of stars appear to be binary and about half of these are
close enough to interact. Because of the enormous expansion on the AGB,
many of these interactions will involve an AGB star and a relatively
compact companion, anything from a low-mass main-sequence star to a
degenerate remnant. Mass loss plays the dominant role in determining the
lifetime and the extent of nuclear processing of the AGB phase. Binary
interaction will increase the mass loss from the AGB star and curtail
its evolution, either through Roche-lobe overflow, common-envelope
evolution or the driving of an enhanced stellar wind. These processes
will tend to reduce the metals, particularly carbon, returned to the
inter-stellar medium. On the other hand merged systems or companions
that accrete a substantial amount of mass themselves evolve into AGB
stars that can synthesize and return more carbon than the two
individuals would have alone. By synthesizing large populations of
stars, with nucleosynthesis and binary interaction, we estimate a
reduction in carbon yield owing to binary star evolution of as much as
15%.