Disc breaking through forced eccentricity growth

ABSTRACT Motivated by misaligned discs observed in eccentric orbit Be/X-ray binaries, we examine the evolution of a retrograde disc around one component of an eccentric binary with hydrodynamic simulations, n-body simulations, and linear theory. Forced eccentricity growth from the eccentric orbit binary causes the initially circular disc to undergo eccentricity oscillations. A retrograde disc becomes more radially extended, more highly eccentric, and undergoes more rapid apsidal precession compared to a prograde disc. We find that a retrograde disc can be subject to disc breaking where the disc forms two rings with different eccentricities and longitude of periastrons while remaining coplanar. This could have implications for the light curves and the X-ray outbursts observed in Be/X-ray binaries.