How to change the relative

inclination in a triple-star system

Naive numerical experiments with tidal
dissipation

Staffan Söderhjelm, Lund Observatory

Turku Few-body workshop, July 2005
 Overview
• Algol 90 deg problem
• j-change in hierarchical triple star systems
• Primordial Algol with and without Kozai-
cycles (varying the apsidal motion k(2))
• Tidal dissipation+Kozai-cycles shrinks
close orbit and changes j
• No explanation for 90 deg j, but simple
theory works in other cases
 Original inspiration, Algol
• Söderhjelm(1975): orbits co-planar because
observed inclination-changes small (90 deg-case
deemed implausible)
• Lestrade et al(1993): orbits really at about 90
(±10) deg relative inclination
• From the unchanging eclipse depths, j=90±3 deg
(dΩ/dt ~ cos j)
• Is there some mechanism favouring exactly 90
degrees??
 Some parameters in a hierarchical
triple star system

• Period-ratio Pc/Pw
• Ratio of orbital angular momenta G1/G2
• Relative inclination between orbit-planes, j
• Eccentricities ec(variable) and ew
 Fundamental formula for the
relative inclination
Total (orbital) angular momentum is the
(vector) sum of the individual momenta
C2= G12+G22+2 G1G2 cos j
or
cos j =0.5 [((C/G2)2- 1)/(G1/G2)-G1/G2]

that is, for constant C and G2, the relative

inclination is determined by G1
 Causes of G1-variation

The orbital angular momentum in the inner

orbit is
G1=M1M2/(M1+M2) [G(M1+M2)ac(1-ec2)]0.5
and typically, G1 diminishes during episodes
of high eccentricity and/or when ac is shrunk
by tidal dissipation
 The j-variation depends
strongly on G1/G2
• In most hierarchical triples, G1/G2 <<1, that is,
the wide orbit dominates the angular
momentum budget
• When the third mass is small relative to the
other two, and P1/P2 is not too small, G1 may
become dominant, however, which has
interesting consequences
A typical, almost symmetric case
initial G1/G2=0.05
Same plot with a/a0 on abscissa
G1/G2=0.05
At initial G1/G2=0.5, there is a marked
asymmetry
and at G1/G2=1.5, for retrograde orbits, the
angle between the orbital planes may
increase markedly with diminishing G1
Present-day Algol post large-scale
mass-exchange, how did it start out?
• Trials with rapid binary evolution code (BSE,
Hurley et al 2002) gives typical start parameters
M1=3.26, M2=1.14, P=1.95 days
• With reasonable k(2) stellar structure constants,
the apsidal motion from the tidal deformation
dominates over the 3-body effects, and there
were no high-e Kozai cycles
Typical rapid+slow mass-transfer
Period (3.17 d) a bit too long (real Algol 2.87)
With k(2)=0 (mass-point case) at j=95
deg, there are extreme Kozai cycles
with e reaching 0.999
With realistic k(2) (around 0.005), the apsidal
motion is fast and the eccentricity stays low
To show the transition from 3-body
dominated (mass-point) motion to
deformation-dominated, one may make
numerical integrations with arbitrary
(unphysical) k(2)-values.
 k(2) P_e e_max P_omg P_aps(D)
0 0.38e6 0.998 0.70e6(circ)
0.00001 0.43e6 0.83 0.86e6(circ) 21.9e6
0.00003 0.42e6 0.78 0.85e6(circ) 6.92e6
0.0001 0.43e6 0.69 0.85e6(circ) 2.19e6
0.0002 0.43e6 0.62 0.83e6(circ) 1.09e6
0.0004 0.44e6 0.51 0.86e6(circ) 0.55e6
0.0008 0.49e6 0.31 1e6: (circ/lib) 0.27e6
0.00100 0.68e6 0.17 Irr (circ/lib) 0.22e6
0.00112 0.7e6:: 0.010 Irr (circ/lib) 0.20e6
0.00125 0.33e6 0.0025 0.36e6(circ/lib) 0.18e6
0.00158 0.10e6 0.0015 0.20e6 (circ) 0.14e6
0.002 0.066e6 0.0012 0.13e6(circ) 0.11e6
0.005 0.022e6 0.0011 0.044e6(circ) 0.044e6
The ’transition’ is rapid: red curve for k(2)=0.00100,
blue k(2)=0.00112
With large-e episodes, the close orbit
may be shrunk by tidal dissipation, and
it is not unrealistic to start with e.g.
Pc=4 days. Now there are Kozai cycles
with physically realistic k(2), but the
transition to D-dominated motion is
very similar to the 1.95 day case.
 k(2) P_e e_max P_omg P_aps(D)
0 94000 0.96 94000(lib)
0.00125 90500 0.78 90500(lib) 1.90E+06
0.0025 89400 0.74 89400(lib) 9.40E+05
0.005 89000 0.68 89000(lib) 4.70E+05
0.01 88600 0.61 88600(lib) 2.40E+05
0.02 92000 0.48 92000(lib) 118000
0.04 113500 0.27 113500(lib) 59000
0.045 135000 0.19 lib/circ 52000
0.05 2e5 irr 0.08 lib/circ 47000
0.055 56000 0.0135 112000 43000
0.06 38000 0.0116 76000 39000
0.08 20000 0.0106 40000 29000
0.16 7800 0.0102 15600 14500
At realistic k(2)=0.005, we now still
have Kozai cycles
with nice libration of the apsidal line
and only at 10 times higher values we get the final rapid
transition: k(2)=0.045(red), 0.050(green), 0.055(blue)
 At large k(2) (=0.08), omega(green) circulates
regularly, and the eccentricity (x100, red) is small
 With large-e episodes, the close
orbit may be shrunk by tidal
dissipation
• Simple Kisseleva et al (1998) model,
parametrized by (theoretically poorly known)
lambda
• Runs with different lambda show final outcome
to be very insensitive to strength of tidal friction
The eccentricity decreases with a speed
proportional to lambda (1e-4, 1e-5, 1e-6)
a diminishes faster than e, to a value almost
independent of lambda (P=4d -> 1.9 d)
Diminishing ac, means diminsihing
G1 angular momentum, and we
may use the simple original
formulae to estimate the change in
relative inclination
Parameters correspond to G1/G2=0.11, with 95-deg
curve largely horizontal, thus little j-change expected
as is also the result of the numerical
integrations
Preliminary results for larger initial Pc

• The large Kozai-cycles make for even

more effective orbit-shrinkage, but
counter-intuitively with larger effect for
smaller lambda
• The smaller the lambda, the larger is the
orbit-shrinkage
Final vs init Pc for different lambda
1e-10(lowest), 1e-9, 1e-8 (black), 1e-7,
1e-6(blue), 1e-5,1e-4(red)
 Thus, for ’primordial Algol’:
• Original period may have been anything between 2
and 50(?) days, with a relative inclination close to
90 deg
• The high eccentricity in the Kozai cycles shrunk the
orbit by tidal dissipation to around 2 days, where
rapid apsidal motion stabilized the eccentricity
close to zero
• The relative inclination did not change a lot in this
phase, and the close to 90 deg value is a
coincidence
• (Then, there has been large-scale mass-transfer,
producing the present system, still with circular
close orbit and fixed relative inclination)
 Examples with larger change of
the relative inclination
• G1/G2 increased by decreasing M3 and/or the
outer period
• Still 4d close orbit with preAlgol masses
• Model A: M3=0.2, Pw=275 d, start j=100 deg
• Model B: M3=0.1, Pw=175 d, start j=110 deg
Model A(1): qualitatively similar e-decrease
Model A(2): a decreases to same value
independent of lambda (a/a0~0.69)
Model A(3): The relative inclination
diminishes(=increases)
Model A(4): close agreement with the
theoretical value expected at G1/G2=1.07
Model B(1): again similar e-decrease
Model B(2): a-decrease to 0.69 a0
Model B(3): relative inclination (by chance)
stopping close to 90 deg
Model B(4): ..following the theoretical
prediction for G1/G2=2.36
 Conclusions
• Changes in the relative inclination needs a shrinking
close orbit
• Tidal shrinkage of the close orbits needs Kozai cycles,
that is, not too short initial Pc and an initial j>40 deg
• The inclination-change is greatest if the third star has
small mass (G1>G2)
• If j<90 originally, the angle between the orbit planes
decreases
• For retrograde orbits, the angle between the orbit planes
may increase
• There is no special significance of a 90 deg relative
inclination