Conservative mass-transfer critical mass ratio ($q_{\mathrm{crit}}=({\zeta }_{\ast }+5/3)/2$)

With fixed total mass and orbital angular momentum and $R_L\propto a(M_d/M{)}^{1/3}$, the Roche-lobe radius response exponent is $2q-5/3$. A donor with stellar radius response exponent ${\zeta }_{\ast }$ is stable to infinitesimal mass loss when ${\zeta }_{\ast }>2q-5/3$, giving $q<({\zeta }_{\ast }+5/3)/2$. The threshold depends on the donor response.