Related papers: Common Envelope Mergers: A Possible Channel for Fo…
Common envelopes form in dynamical time scale mass exchange, when the envelope of a donor star engulfs a much denser companion, and the core of the donor plus the dense companion star spiral inward through this dissipative envelope. As…
Next generation ground-based gravitational-wave detectors will observe binary black hole (BBH) mergers up to redshift $z\gtrsim{}10$, probing the evolution of compact binary (CB) mergers across cosmic time. Here, we present a new…
The masses of compact objects like white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes are fundamental to astrophysics, but very difficult to measure. We present the results of an analysis of subluminous B (sdB) stars in close binary systems with…
Hot subdwarf stars of spectral type B (sdBs) are evolved, core helium-burning objects. The formation of those objects is puzzling, because the progenitor star has to lose almost its entire hydrogen envelope in the red-giant phase. Binary…
We explore the rate and impact of galaxy mergers on the massive galaxy population using the amplitude of the two-point correlation function on small scales for M > 5e10 M_sun galaxies from the COSMOS and COMBO-17 surveys. Using a pair…
By using direct N-body numerical simulations, we model the dynamical co-evolution of two supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and the surrounding stars in merging galaxies. In order to investigate how different stellar components evolve during…
From the results of numerical scattering experiments and simulations of a massive black hole binary in spherically symmetric and shallow cores it has been deduced that most likely the shrinking process stalls due to loss-cone depletion…
Common envelope evolution is a critical but still poorly understood phase in binary evolution. It plays a key role in forming close binaries such as hot subdwarfs, double white dwarfs, X-ray binaries, and double neutron stars. However, its…
Rotation is thought to be a major factor in the evolution of massive stars, especially at low metallicity, with consequences for their chemical yields, ionizing flux and final fate. Determining the natal rotation-rate distribution of stars…
Stellar mergers are responsible for a large variety of astrophysical phenomena. They form blue straggler stars, give rise to spectacular transients, and produce some of the most massive stars in the Universe. Here, we focus on mergers from…
We discuss the formation and evolution of binaries which contain neutron stars or black holes. It is shown that in a stellar system which for $10^{10}$ yr had star formation rate similar to the current one in the Galactic disc, the rate of…
Gravitational wave detectors are observing an increasing number of binary black hole (BBH) mergers, revealing a bimodal mass distribution of BBHs, which hints at diverse formation histories for these systems. Using the rapid binary…
The formation and evolution of binaries which contain two neutron stars or a neutron star with a black hole are discussed in detail. The evolution of the distributions in orbital period and eccentricity for neutron star binaries are studied…
Wide hot subdwarf B (sdB) binaries with main-sequence companions are outcomes of stable mass transfer from evolved red giants. The orbits of these binaries show a strong correlation between their orbital periods and mass ratios. The origins…
The early-R stars are carbon-rich K-type giants. They are enhanced in C12, C13 and N14, have approximately solar oxygen, magnesium isotopes, s-process and iron abundances, have the luminosity of core-helium burning stars, are not rapid…
We combine star formation along the `main sequence', quiescence, and clustering and merging to produce an empirical model for the evolution of individual galaxies. Main sequence star formation alone would significantly steepen the stellar…
We present evolutionary pathways for creating hot subdwarf OB (sdOB) stars from hierarchical triple configurations. We use the population synthesis code Multiple Stellar Evolution (MSE) to follow the stellar, binary, and gravitational…
Gravitational waves from merging binary black holes can be used to shed light on poorly understood aspects of massive binary stellar evolution, such as the evolution of massive stars (including their mass-loss rates), the common envelope…
We investigate the properties of the host galaxies of compact binary mergers across cosmic time, by means of population-synthesis simulations combined with galaxy catalogues from the EAGLE suite. We analyze the merger rate per galaxy of…
The current theory predicts that hot subdwarf binaries are produced from evolved low-mass binaries that have undergone mass transfer and drastic mass loss during either a common envelope phase or a stable Roche lobe overflow while on the…