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Accurate determinations of masses and radii in binary stars, along with estimates of the effective temperatures, metallicities, and other properties, have long been used to test models of stellar evolution. As might be expected,…
Millisecond pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars where general relativity plays a strong role in the propagation of light from the neutron star to observer. The observed X-ray pulse shapes carry information on the mass, radius and…
With 40 or more transiting exoplanets now known, the time is ripe to seek patterns and correlations among their observed properties, which may give important insights into planet formation, structure, and evolution. This task is made…
We demonstrate that the largest measured mass of a neutron star establishes an upper bound to the energy density of observable cold matter. An equation of state-independent expression satisfied by both normal neutron stars and self-bound…
Exoplanets, or planets outside our own solar system, have long been of interest to astronomers; however, only in the past two decades have scientists had the technology to characterize and study planets so far away from us. With advanced…
Transiting exoplanets provide access to data to study the mass-radius relation and internal structure of extrasolar planets. Long-period transiting planets allow insight into planetary environments similar to the Solar System where, in…
Asteroseismology of solar-type stars has an important part to play in the exoplanet program of the NASA Kepler Mission. Precise and accurate inferences on the stellar properties that are made possible by the seismic data allow very tight…
How important is an independent diameter measurement for the determination of stellar parameters of solar-type stars? When coupled with seismic observables, how well can we determine the stellar mass? If we can determine the radius of the…
It is possible to learn a great deal about exoplanet atmospheres even when we cannot spatially resolve the planets from their host stars. In this chapter, we overview the basic techniques used to characterize transiting exoplanets -…
Observations of circumstellar disks around stars as a function of stellar properties such as mass, metallicity, multiplicity, and age, provide constraints on theories concerning the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Utilizing…
The conventional method to determine the cosmic curvature is to measure the total mass density $\Omega_{\rm tot}$. Unfortunately the observational $\Omega_{\rm tot}$ is closely near the critical value 1. The computation of this paper shows…
Context: Starbursts, and particularly their high-mass stars, play an essential role in the evolution of galaxies. The winds of massive stars not only significantly influence their surroundings, but the mass loss also profoundly affects the…
Central stars of extra-solar planetary systems are metal-rich. Planet accretion or initial surmetallicity can explain this observationnal fact. These scenarios can be tested with asteroseismology. We calibrate two stellar models, one with…
Radial velocity studies of accreting binary stars commonly use accretion disk emission lines to determine the radial velocity of the primary star and therefore the mass ratio. These emission line radial velocity curves are often shifted in…
Stellar winds govern the angular momentum evolution of solar-like stars throughout their main-sequence lifetime. The efficiency of this process depends on the geometry of the star's magnetic field. There has been a rapid increase recently…
We present a methodology for the determination of empirical masses of single stars through the combination of three direct observables with Gaia and TESS: (i) the surface gravity via granulation-driven variations in the TESS light curve,…
We use Monte Carlo simulations to estimate the number of extrasolar planets that are directly detectable in the solar-neighborhood using current and forthcoming high-contrast imaging instruments. Our calculations take into account the…
We computed the spectrum of gravitational waves from a dust disk star of radius R inspiraling into a Kerr black hole of mass M and specific angular momentum a. We found that when R is much larger than the wave length of the quasinormal…
The stellar obliquity of a transiting planetary system can be constrained by combining measurements of the star's rotation period, radius, and projected rotational velocity. Here we present a hierarchical Bayesian technique for recovering…
Solar and extrasolar planets are the subject of numerous studies aiming to determine their chemical composition and internal structure. In the case of extrasolar planets, the composition is important as it partly governs their potential…