Self-regulating jets during the common-envelope phase

Jets launched from a compact object (CO) during a common envelope (CE) may play a key role in the evolution of the system, and may also be an efficient removal channel for its material. In this work we study, through a large set of three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, the effects that jets launched from either a BH or a NS have during a CE phase. The jets power is self-consistently computed by taking in account the mass accretion rate onto the CO. We find that the jet deposits enough energy to unbind the outer layers of the CE. The jets present variability in size and orientation while their cocoons expand smoothly over the CE. The mass accretion rate initially decreases due to the ram pressure of the cocoon. However, it later increases and presents an oscillating behavior. If no jet is present (or its power is considerably low), the accretion onto the CO is such that a NS may be converted into a BH within a decade, or a BH may double its mass in a few years. If a jet is present, however, it deposits enough energy to unbind the outer layers of the CE and the system may evolve into a grazing envelope, configuration in which the jet is located at the edge of the CE and continuously removes the external layers.