Abstract
We compute the energy dissipation rates, dot E, due to the shear flows induced by tidal forces in a set of asynchronously rotating B-type binaries selected from the catalogue of Berghoefer et al. (1996). We find a linear correlation between dot E and the X-ray luminosity, L_X, reported for these systems where the X-ray emission mechanism is not well understood. The correlation suggests that in asynchronously rotating binary stars an X-ray generating mechanism is excited.
