The structure and evolution of a high-mass stellar merger in the Hertzsprung gap

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Main Authors: Patton, Rachel A., Pinsonneault, Marc H., Thompson, Todd A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Patton, Rachel A.
Pinsonneault, Marc H.
Thompson, Todd A.
author_facet Patton, Rachel A.
Pinsonneault, Marc H.
Thompson, Todd A.
contents Post-main-sequence binary mergers are a common evolutionary pathway for massive stars, but the effects of merging on the long-term structure and evolution of the resulting star are a matter of active debate. Furthermore, the way in which merger products are modeled in 1D is not uniform. We present the evolution of an 11 M$_\odot$ and 6.6 M$_\odot$ binary on an 11 day orbit, that merges while the primary is crossing the Hertzsprung gap. We construct the merger product either by rapidly accreting the secondary onto the surface of the primary or by injecting material from the secondary deeper into the primary via entropy sorting. We then evolve them to carbon ignition, comparing their interior structures at this stage. We find that all merger products experience an extended blue supergiant phase and have undermassive helium cores and low carbon mass fractions compared to single and stripped stars. However, the evolution of central density, temperature, and composition in the entropy-sorted model is distinct from those of the rapid-accretion models.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_05562
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The structure and evolution of a high-mass stellar merger in the Hertzsprung gap
Patton, Rachel A.
Pinsonneault, Marc H.
Thompson, Todd A.
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Post-main-sequence binary mergers are a common evolutionary pathway for massive stars, but the effects of merging on the long-term structure and evolution of the resulting star are a matter of active debate. Furthermore, the way in which merger products are modeled in 1D is not uniform. We present the evolution of an 11 M$_\odot$ and 6.6 M$_\odot$ binary on an 11 day orbit, that merges while the primary is crossing the Hertzsprung gap. We construct the merger product either by rapidly accreting the secondary onto the surface of the primary or by injecting material from the secondary deeper into the primary via entropy sorting. We then evolve them to carbon ignition, comparing their interior structures at this stage. We find that all merger products experience an extended blue supergiant phase and have undermassive helium cores and low carbon mass fractions compared to single and stripped stars. However, the evolution of central density, temperature, and composition in the entropy-sorted model is distinct from those of the rapid-accretion models.
title The structure and evolution of a high-mass stellar merger in the Hertzsprung gap
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.05562