Efficiency of mass transfer in massive close binaries, Tests from double-lined eclipsing bi.pdf

a r X i v : a s t r o - p h / 0 7 0 3 4 8 0 v 1 1 9 M a r 2 0 0 7 Astronomy Astrophysics manuscript no. 7007 c? ESO 2008 February 5, 2008 Efficiency of mass transfer in massive close binaries Tests from double-lined eclipsing binaries in the SMC S.E. de Mink 1 , O.R. Pols 1 and R. W. Hilditch 2 1 Astronomical Institute, Utrecht University, PO Box 80000, NL-3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands, e-mail: S.E.deMink@astro.uu.nl 2 School of Physics and Astronomy. University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, Scotland, U.K. Received : 22/12/2006; accepted : 05/03/2007 ABSTRACT Aims. One of the major uncertainties in close binary evolution is the efficiency of mass transfer β: the fraction of transferred mass that is accreted by a secondary star. We attempt to constrain the mass-transfer efficiency for short-period massive binaries undergoing case A mass transfer. Methods. We present a grid of about 20,000 detailed binary evolution tracks with primary masses 3.5–35 M⊙, orbital periods 1–5 days at a metallicity Z = 0.004, assuming both conservative and non-conservative mass transfer. We perform a systematic comparison, using least-squares fitting, of the computed models with a sample of 50 double-lined eclipsing binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud, for which fundamental stellar parameters have been determined. About 60% of the systems are currently undergoing slow mass transfer. Results. In general we find good agreement between our models and the observed detached systems. However, for many of the semi-detached systems the observed temperature ratio is more extreme than our models predict. For the 17 semi-detached systems that we are able to match, we find a large spread in the best fitting mass-transfer efficiency; no single value of β can explain all systems. We find a hint that initially wider systems tend to fit better to less conservative models. We show the need for more accurate temperature determinations and we find that determinations of s