There are at present ${\cal O}(100)$ gravitational-wave candidates from compact binary mergers reported in the astronomical literature. As detector sensitivities are improved, the catalog will swell in size: first to ${\cal O}(1000)$ events in the A+ era and then to ${\cal O}(10^6)$ events in the era of third-generation observatories like Cosmic Explorer and the Einstein Telescope. Each event is analyzed using Bayesian inference to determine properties of the source including component masses, spins, tidal parameters, and the distance to the source. These inference products are the fodder for some of the most exciting gravitational-wave science, enabling us to measure the expansion of the Universe with standard sirens, to characterise the neutron star equation of state, and to unveil how and where gravitational-wave sources are assembled. In order to maximize the science from the coming deluge of detections, we introduce GWCloud, a searchable repository for the creation and curation of gravitational-wave inference products. It is designed with five pillars in mind: uniformity of results, reproducibility of results, stability of results, access to the astronomical community, and efficient use of computing resources. We describe how to use GWCloud with examples, which readers can replicate using the companion code to this paper. We describe our long-term vision for GWCloud.
ABSTRACT We study the formation of dust in the expanding gas ejected as a result of a common envelope binary interaction. In our novel approach, we apply the dust formation model of Nozawa et al. to the outputs of the 3D hydrodynamic SPH simulation performed by Iaconi et al. that involves a giant of 0.88 M⊙ and 83 R⊙, with a companion of 0.6 M⊙ placed on the surface of the giant in circular orbit. After simulating the dynamic in-spiral phase, we follow the expansion of the ejecta for $\simeq 18\, 000$ d. During this period, the gas is able to cool down enough to reach dust formation temperatures. Our results show that dust forms efficiently in the window between ≃ 300 d (the end of the dynamic in-spiral) and ≃ 5000 d. The dust forms in two separate populations; an outer one in the material ejected during the first few orbits of the companion inside the primary’s envelope and an inner one in the rest of the ejected material. We are able to fit the grain-size distribution at the end of the simulation with a double power law. The slope of the power law for smaller grains is flatter than that for larger grains, creating a knee-shaped distribution. The power-law indexes are, however, different from the classical values determined for the interstellar medium. We also estimate that the contribution to cosmic dust by common envelope events is not negligible and comparable to that of novae and supernovae.
The morphology of bipolar planetary nebulae (PNe) can be attributed to interactions between a fast wind from the central engine and dense toroidal shaped ejecta left over from common envelope (CE) evolution. Here we use the 3-D hydrodynamic AMR code AstroBEAR to study the possibility that bipolar PN outflows can emerge collimated even from an uncollimated spherical wind in the aftermath of a CE event. The output of a single CE simulation via the SPH code PHANTOM serves as the initial conditions. Four cases of winds, all with high enough momenta to account for observed high momenta preplanetary nebula outflows, are injected spherically from the region of the CE binary remnant into the ejecta. We compare cases with two different momenta and cases with no radiative cooling versus application of optically thin emission via a cooling curve to the outflow. Our simulations show that in all cases highly collimated bipolar outflows result from deflection of the spherical wind via the interaction with the CE ejecta. Significant asymmetries between the top and bottom lobes are seen in all cases. The asymmetry is strongest for the lower momentum case with radiative cooling. While real post CE winds may be aspherical, our models show that collimation via "inertial confinement" will be strong enough to create jet-like outflows even beginning with maximally uncollimated drivers. Our simulations reveal detailed shock structures in the shock focused inertial confinement (SFIC) model and develop a lens-shaped inner shock that is a new feature of SFIC driven bipolar lobes.
During the common envelope binary interaction, the expanding layers of the gaseous common envelope recombine and the resulting recombination energy has been suggested as a contributing factor to the ejection of the envelope. In this paper we perform a comparative study between simulations with and without the inclusion of recombination energy. We use two distinct setups, comprising 0.88-M$_{\odot}$ and 1.8-M$_{\odot}$ giants, that have been studied before and can serve as benchmarks. In so doing we conclude that (i) the final orbital separation is not affected by the choice of equation of state. In other words, simulations that unbind but a small fraction of the envelope result in similar final separations to those that, thanks to recombination energy, unbind a far larger fractions. (ii) The adoption of a tabulated equation of state results in a much greater fraction of unbound envelope and we demonstrate the cause of this to be the release of recombination energy. (iii) The fraction of hydrogen recombination energy that is allowed to do work should be about half of that which our adiabatic simulations use. (iv) However, for the heavier star simulation we conclude that it is helium and not hydrogen recombination energy that unbinds the gas and we determine that all helium recombination energy is thermalised in the envelope and does work. (v)~The outer regions of the expanding common envelope are likely to see the formation of dust. This dust would promote additional unbinding and shaping of the ejected envelope into axisymmetric morphologies.
We have simulated a common envelope interaction of a 0.88-M$_{\odot}$, 90-R$_{\odot}$, red giant branch star and a 0.6-M$_{\odot}$, compact companion with the smoothed particle hydrodynamics code, Phantom, from the beginning of the Roche lobe overflow phase to the beginning of the self-regulated inspiral, using three different resolutions. The duration of the Roche lobe overflow phase is resolution dependent and would lengthen with increased resolution beyond the $\sim$20 years observed, while the inspiral phase and the post-common envelope separation are largely independent of resolution. Mass transfer rates through the Lagrangian points drive the orbital evolution during the Roche lobe overflow phase, as predicted analytically. The absolute mass transfer rate is resolution dependent, but always within an order of magnitude of the analytical value. Similarly, the gravitational drag in the simulations is close to the analytical approximation. This gives us confidence that simulations approximate reality. The $L_2$ and $L_3$ outflow observed during Roche lobe overflow remains bound, forming a circumbinary disk that is largely disrupted by the common envelope ejection. However, a longer phase of Roche lobe overflow and weaker common envelope ejection typical of a more stable binary may result in a surviving circumbinary disk. Finally, we examine the density distribution resulting from the interaction for simulations that include or omit the phase of Roche lobe overflow. We conclude that the degree of stability of the Roche lobe phase may modulate the shape of the subsequent planetary nebula, explaining the wide range of post-common envelope planetary nebula shapes observed.
We investigate the common envelope binary interaction, that leads to the formation of compact binaries, such as the progenitor of Type Ia supernovae or of mergers that emit detectable gravitational waves. In this work we diverge from the classic numerical approach that models the dynamic in-spiral. We focus instead on the asymptotic behaviour of the common envelope expansion after the dynamic in-spiral terminates. We use the SPH code {\sc phantom} to simulate one of the setups from Passy et al., with a 0.88~\ms, 83~\rs \ RGB primary and a 0.6~\ms \ companion, then we follow the ejecta expansion for $\simeq 50$~yr. Additionally, we utilise a tabulated equation of state including the envelope recombination energy in the simulation (Reichardt et al.), achieving a full unbinding. We show that, as time passes, the envelope's radial velocities dominate over the tangential ones, hence allowing us to apply an homologous expansion kinematic model to the ejecta. The external layers of the envelope become homologous as soon as they are ejected, but it takes $\simeq 5000$~days ($\simeq 14$~yr) for the bulk of the unbound gas to achieve an homologous expanding regime. We observe that the complex distribution generated by the dynamic in-spiral evolves into a more ordered, ring-like shaped one in the asymptotic regime. We show that the thermodynamics of the expanding envelope are in very good agreement with those expected for an adiabatically expanding sphere under the homologous condition and give a prediction for the location and temperature of the photosphere assuming dust to be the main source of opacity.
For decades, CFD (computational fluid dynamics) has been applied for numerical calculations of the rather complex flow in bubble columns using the two-fluid approach (Euler/Euler method) as well as the Euler/Lagrange approach, both based on the point-mass approximation. Numerous different models and closures have been proposed and used for describing the fluid dynamic forces acting on bubbles, modelling bubble induced turbulence (BIT) and transport of bubbles by turbulence structures (Sommerfeld, 2004). However, the dynamics of bubbles, i.e., oscillations and tumbling motion, is mostly neglected in such calculations since a physically based model in the frame of a point-particle approximation is not readily available. Such a model was developed, implemented in the frame of LES-Euler/Lagrange calculations (LES: Large Eddy Simulations) and validated based on detailed experiments (Sommerfeld and Broder, 2009). The temporal evolution of bubble eccentricity was randomly generated based on measured correlations for the mean and rms (root mean square) values of eccentricity in connection with a theoretical oscillation time scale. Naturally, the state-of-the-art fluid forces acting on the bubbles were considered and the transport of bubbles by sub-grid-scale-turbulence (SGS) was modelled by a Langevin approach, as well as turbulence modification by the bubbles being considered in the frame of the LES context. Similar to experimental observations, such a thorough model yielded a bubble tumbling motion even in the point-particle approximation. The correct anisotropic bubble fluctuating velocities were thereby reproduced and good agreement with experiments was obtained for all other velocities. Note that bubble velocity fluctuations were so far never considered for the validation of calculations, but they are of immense importance when also considering mass transfer. Hence, the bubbly dynamics model provided the correct bubble residence time and, as a result, a gas hold-up identical to measured values.
The morphologies of planetary nebula have long been believed to be due to wind shaping processes in which a “fast wind” from the central star impacts a previously ejected envelope. It is assumed that asymmetries existing in the “slow wind” envelope would lead to inertial confinement, shaping the resulting interacting wind flow. We present new results demonstrating the effectiveness of Common Envelope Evolution (CEE) at producing aspherical envelopes which, when impinged upon by a spherical fast stellar wind, produce highly bipolar, jet-like outflows. We have run two simple cases using the output of a single PHANTOM SPH CEE simulation. Our work uses the Adaptive Mesh Refinement code AstroBEAR to track the interaction of the fast wind and CEE ejecta allows us to follow the morphological evolution of the outflow lobes at high resolution in 3-D. Our two models bracket low and high momentum output fast winds. We find the interaction leads to highly collimated bipolar outflows. In addition, the bipolar morphology depends on the fast wind momentum injection rate. With this dependence comes the initiation of significant symmetry breaking between the top and bottom bipolar lobes. Our simulations, though simplified, confirm the long-standing belief that CEE can plan a major role in PPN and PN shaping. These simulations are intended as an initial exploration of the post-CE/PPN flow patterns that can be expected from central source outflows and CE ejecta.
We present Phantom, a fast, parallel, modular and low-memory smoothed particle hydrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics code developed over the last decade for astrophysical applications in three dimensions. The code has been developed with a focus on stellar, galactic, planetary and high energy astrophysics and has already been used widely for studies of accretion discs and turbulence, from the birth of planets to how black holes accrete. Here we describe and test the core algorithms as well as modules for magnetohydrodynamics, self-gravity, sink particles, H_2 chemistry, dust-gas mixtures, physical viscosity, external forces including numerous galactic potentials as well as implementations of Lense-Thirring precession, Poynting-Robertson drag and stochastic turbulent driving. Phantom is hereby made publicly available.
The rise and shape oscillations of bubbles in a homogeneous, isotropic turbulent flow are studied numerically and compared to bubbles rising in quiescent liquid. The disturbances are generated by applying a pseudo-spectral forcing method on a fully periodic domain where a body force is randomly distributed in Fourier space at small wave-numbers. This produces velocity fluctuations at large length scales while the smallest length scales evolve naturally as a solution of the Navier Stokes equations. Simulations of various cases considering a less deformable bubble (Eo = 1) and a more deformable bubble (Eo = 4) were carried out. The simulations were performed for clean bubbles without a surface tension gradient. The forcing parameters were chosen such that the bubble size is about equal and half the integral length scale. The mean rise Reynolds number ranged from 58 to 94, the ratio of the isotropic liquid velocity fluctuation to the bubble rise velocity varied from 0.01 to 0.12 and Stokes numbers ranging from 0.3 to 13.2, depending on the characteristic time scales of the liquid flow, were computed. The results for bubbles rising in a liquid with imposed velocity fluctuations revealed a reduction of the bubble rise velocity of up to 38% and an increase of the bubble velocity fluctuations, mainly caused by an increase of the lateral bubble motion. While minor changes in the average deformation for less deformable bubbles were found, the ellipticity of deformable bubbles increased up to 9.8%. The fluctuations of the orientation angle, as well as the angle of motion, were also increased. The characteristic frequencies of path oscillation and the frequencies of the shape and orientation angle were determined. Besides the amplification of dominant frequencies it was found that the frequency range expanded to lower and higher frequencies for simulations with forced velocity fluctuations. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
We present hydrodynamic simulations of the common envelope binary interaction between a giant star and a compact companion carried out with the adaptive mesh refinement code ENZO and the smooth particle hydrodynamics code PHANTOM. These simulations mimic the parameters of one of the simulations by Passy et al., but assess the impact of a larger, more realistic initial orbital separation on the simulation outcome. We conclude that for both codes the post-common envelope separation is somewhat larger and the amount of unbound mass slightly greater when the initial separation is wide enough that the giant does not yet overflow or just overflows its Roche lobe. PHANTOM has been adapted to the common envelope problem here for the first time and a full comparison with ENZO is presented, including an investigation of convergence as well as energy and angular momentum conservation. We also set our simulations in the context of past simulations. This comparison reveals that it is the expansion of the giant before rapid in-spiral and not spinning up of the star that causes a larger final separation. We also suggest that the large range in unbound mass for different simulations is difficult to explain and may have something to do with simulations that are not fully converged.