Carbon Abundance in Mass-Exchanging Binaries

Extract

The evolution of the carbon abundance at the surface of both components of a mass-exchanging (Algol-type) binary is examined (fig. 1). Distinction is made between case B and case AB (fig. 2) of mass transfer, in view of the different timescales involved. In the mass accreting component thermohaline mixing is adopted when matter with decreasing hydrogen abundance is deposited on the surface.

It is shown that at the surface of the loser a very low C-abundance is present, while at the surface of the gainer different regimes occur. On the average the expected C-abundance on the gainer is clearly lower than the observed solar value, but far above the value at the surface of the loser. The variation in time during the mass-exchange process is compared to the values, derived from observation of several Algol-type systems.