Reduced magnetic braking and the magnetic capture model for the formation of ultra-compact binaries

Astronomical Institute, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands e-mail: [sluys;verbunt;pols]@astro.uu.nl

Received: 13 January 2005
Accepted: 13 May 2005

Abstract

A binary in which a slightly evolved star starts mass transfer to a neutron star can evolve towards ultra-short orbital periods under the influence of magnetic braking. This is called magnetic capture. In a previous paper we showed that ultra-short periods are only reached for an extremely small range of initial binary parameters, in particular orbital period and donor mass. Our conclusion was based on one specific choice for the law of magnetic braking, and for the loss of mass and angular momentum during mass transfer. In this paper we show that for less efficient magnetic braking it is impossible to evolve to ultra-short periods, independent of the amount of mass and associated angular momentum lost from the binary.