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arXiv · 2509.21521

HR6819: a puffed-up stripped star system challenging stable mass transfer theory

A. Picco·P. Marchant·H. Sana·J. Bodensteiner·T. Shenar·A. J. Frost·K. Deshmukh·J. S. G. Mombarg·D. Pauli·R. Willcox·A. Kemp
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Abstract

HR6819 is the first system with a puffed-up low mass stripped star and a classical Be star whose nature has been confirmed by optical interferometry. It shows the most extreme mass ratio (15.7 +/- 1.1), the lowest stripped star mass (0.270 +/- 0.056 Msun), and one of the shortest orbital periods (40.3266 +/- 0.0016 days) among similar post-interaction binaries. These properties make HR6819 a unique test case for binary interaction physics, in particular the efficiency of mass transfer onto the Be progenitor required to reach such an extreme mass ratio. We reconstruct the possible evolutionary history of the system with grids of MESA simulations spanning mass transfer efficiencies from fully to fifty percent conservative. We show that stable Roche lobe overflow cannot simultaneously reproduce the observed orbital period and extreme mass ratio: the maximum ratio achievable is ~11.5 at ~40 days, even in the fully conservative case. Furthermore, the observed luminosities of both components exceed those expected from their model masses; the luminosity of the stripped star would be consistent with a ~0.7 Msun mass, over twice its dynamical mass. Our results demonstrate that the post-interaction properties of HR6819 cannot be explained by stable mass transfer under standard assumptions.

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A. Picco, P. Marchant, H. Sana, J. Bodensteiner, T. Shenar, A. J. Frost, K. Deshmukh, J. S. G. Mombarg, D. Pauli, R. Willcox, A. Kemp. 2025-09-25. HR6819: a puffed-up stripped star system challenging stable mass transfer theory. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361%2F202556556

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