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Paper: Spirals from Interaction of a Small Body with a Pulsating AGB-Star Wind
Volume: 487, Resolving The Future Of Astronomy With Long-Baseline Interferometry
Page: 401
Authors: Wang, Q.; Willson, L. A.
Abstract: We have been investigating the effects of a small body (∼10 MJupiter) on the winds of pulsating, mass-losing AGB stars (Miras). For such low companion masses, the star is not spun up, and so the body creates a short-duration highly-localized gravitational impulse as it orbits. Using the Bowen code for the flow, we have looked at the effects of the extra impulse, and find that for very close orbits the result can be 2, 3 or 4-armed spiral patterns. Thus, observations of particularly 3-armed symmetry – triangular stars – would likely indicate the presence of such a close companion. This has clear implications for the formation of planetary nebulae as well.
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