Monte Carlo simulations of the orbital elements and abundances of barium stars

We have carried out a series of Monte Carlo simulations to study the distributions of the orbital elements of normal red giant binary systems and barium stars with the wind accretion model under the condition of total angular momentum conservation. Since barium star systems have evolved from normal red giant binary systems, their distributions of orbital eccentricities and periods exhibit the characteristics of the final orbits of binaries after mass accretion. Our calculations show that in the process of wind accretion and in the mass-losing stage, the system gets bigger, and its orbital period increases, while the orbital eccentricity does not vary much. This can explain the various features in the distributions of the orbital elements of normal red giant binary systems and barium stars, as well as features in the distribution of the heavy-element abundances of barium stars.