momentum of the binary.

Let us choose a $2\,M_\odot$ giant, evolved to a hydrogen-exhausted core mass $m_\mathrm{d, X}\sim 0.4\,M_\odot$, a common case in the study of @Nelemans05, where many double WD binaries have an older companion of $0.5\,M_\odot$ and a younger WD of $0.4\,M_\odot$. In Fig.\[gamma1\] we again plot the final binary configurations in the $E-J$ plane, in accordance with the $\gamma$-formalism. The black tracks are constructed by subsequently removing mass-mesh points from the surface of a stellar-structure model. The value for $J$ is computed from the original angular momentum of the binary, and by applying the $\gamma$-formalism. The value for $E$ is computed then from Kepler’s law. The only self-consistent solutions are those that fall within the strip delineated by the two thin solid red lines (corresponding to the red shaded area in Fig.\[alpha\] and described in § \[sec:example1\]) for the adopted core-mass range. The solutions also are bound from above by the solid red line, where the binary is bound to merge, and by the dashed-dotted green line, which denotes the initial binary energy: below this line, the $\gamma$-formalism essentially predicts energy generation.

From Fig.\[gamma1\], we see that the track for $\gamma=1.5$ roughly coincides with a possible final 