A new theoretical calculation puts pair creation by an idealized binary star at an extraordinarily low level. For the HM Cancri example, the massless-particle calculation gives a rate of order 10^-28 s^-1, or roughly one pair in 10^21 years. The estimate comes from a weak-field, nonrelativistic model with small departures from flat spacetime.
The broader paper studies pair creation for quantum fields with spin 0, spin 1/2 and spin 1 in weak gravitational and gauge backgrounds. It provides explicit Fourier-space expressions for scalar, fermionic and vector fields.
From curvature to matter
To build the result, the authors use resummed heat-kernel techniques, a method for organizing the weak-background calculation. They keep terms through quadratic order in generalized curvatures and define the inclusive pair-creation probability from the effective action, the mathematical summary used for the calculation.
For the gravitational part, the paper rewrites the result using the energy-momentum tensor, the quantity that sources spacetime through Einstein's equations. This produces a master formula expressed in terms of the matter source, rather than only in terms of curvature.
The binary calculation sets a high bar
The binary illustration has deliberately narrow rules. It uses two equal-mass compact point particles in nonrelativistic circular motion, with only small deformations of flat spacetime. Radiative corrections and gravitational-wave energy losses are omitted.
The binary calculation imposes a threshold, a cutoff below which the motion's harmonic components do not contribute. In the HM Cancri example, each white dwarf is assigned about 0.5 solar masses and the angular speed is about 0.0195 Hz. The electron threshold index is reported as about 4 x 10^22, and massive-particle production is expected to be exponentially suppressed.
A tiny result, then a dramatic extrapolation
For massless particles, the nonrelativistic model predicts a rate that increases with both binary frequency and stellar mass. The reported approximate scaling is omega^(13/3) with frequency and M^(10/3) with mass. Even with that positive scaling, the HM Cancri estimate is of order 10^-28 s^-1, or roughly one pair in 10^21 years.
The paper also reports a striking high-speed extrapolation. At stellar speeds around 0.24c, the reported rate is enhanced by a factor of 1024. At around 0.6c, the reported expression is P ~ 10^DeltaT s^-1 for DeltaT of about one year.
Those figures should be read as extrapolations, not as a relativistic calculation. The underlying binary setup is explicitly nonrelativistic, and the high-speed enhancement is not independently validated within the calculation.
A model result with clear boundaries
As a theoretical consistency check, the authors report positive pair-creation probabilities in the massless limit. The illustrative massless-pair spectrum is dominated by the binary's second harmonic, while contributions from higher harmonics are several orders smaller.
The result is a set of analytical tools and model estimates, not a demonstration that real binaries produce observable pairs. The evidence is limited to weak backgrounds, quadratic-order curvature terms and an idealized equal-mass circular binary. It does not establish that the quoted rates apply to real binaries with strong gravity, radiation or backreaction, or that the high-speed enhancement would be observable.
The document is an arXiv version-1 preprint dated 26 Aug 2026.
Paper data and sources
Original title: Pair creation in weak gravity and gauge backgrounds: spinning fields and binary stars
Authors: S. A. Franchino-Viñas, N. Varacalli, O. Zanusso
Journal/Repository: arXiv
Status: Preprint, not yet peer-reviewed
First online: 2026-08-26
DOI: Not available
Original paper · Full text