3D Models of Stellar Interactions

Other conference contribution, 2014

Symbiotic binaries consist of a cool, evolved mass-losing giant and an accreting compact companion. As symbiotic nebulae show similar morphologies to those in planetary nebulae (so much so that it is often difficult to distinguish between the two), they are ideal laboratories for understanding the role a binary companion plays in shaping the circumstellar envelopes in these evolved systems. We will present 3D Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) models of interacting binaries, e.g. R Aquarii and Mira, and discuss the formation of spiral outflows, arcs, shells and equatorial density enhancements.We will also discuss the implications of the former for planetary nebulae, e.g. the Egg Nebula and Cat's Eye, and the latter for the formation of bipolar geometries, e.g. M2-9. We also investigate accretion and angular momentum evolution in symbiotic binaries which may be important to understand the formation of jets and more episodic mass-loss features we see in circumstellar envelopes and the orbital characteristics of binary central stars of planetary nebulae.