Tidal evolution in close binary systems. II.

Abstract

The aim of the present investigation is to determine the explicit forms of differential equations which govern secular perturbations of the orbital elements of close binary systems in the plane of the orbit (i.e., of the semi-major axis, eccentricity, and longitude of the periastron) arising from the lag of dynamical tides due to viscosity of stellar material. The results obtained are exact for any value of orbital eccentricity comprised between zero and unity, and include the effects produced by the second, third and fourth-harmonic dynamical tides, as well as by axial rotation with arbitrary inclination of the equator to the orbital plane.