Subject: [IAU 174 abstract 18 ]

From: iau174
Date: Sat, 12 Aug 95 21:20:56 JST

>From [email-masked]  Sat Aug 12 21:20:40 1995
Date: Sat, 12 Aug 95 13:14 BST
From: [email-masked] (Rosemary Mardling)
To: [email-masked]
Subject: abstract
Content-Length: 1162

Chaos and the Dynamical Evolution of Tidal Capture Binaries
in Clusters

Rosemary A. Mardling

Department of Mathematics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Before the discovery of primordial binaries in globular clusters,
tidal capture binaries were thought to be the main source of fuel 
for core support and reexpansion, and also be responsible for the excess
of low-mass X-ray binaries in globular cluster cores.
Various models of the evolution of tidal capture binaries then
suggested that they would not survive the circularization process.
We present a model for the long-term dynamical evolution of
tidal capture binaries which shows that following capture, a binary
goes through a short violent phase during which the orbit is
chaotic and the tides are extremely energetic. This is followed 
by a long quiescent circularization phase during which the tides are small.
Depending on how the tidal energy is dissipated and on what
timescale(s) circularization takes place, tidal capture binaries
may yet play some role in the dynamical evolution of globular
clusters, with some evolving to become low-mass X-ray binaries
and millisecond pulsars.