Related papers: Cataclysmic Variables: Eight Breakthroughs in Eigh…

Close, compact, hierarchical, multiple stellar systems, i.e., multiples having an outer orbital period from months to a few years, comprise a small, but continuously growing group of the triple and multiple star zoo. Many of them consist of…

The fates of planetary systems provide unassailable insights into their formation and represent rich cross-disciplinary dynamical laboratories. Mounting observations of post-main-sequence planetary systems necessitate a complementary level…

Binary stars are pairs of stars that are gravitationally bound, providing in some cases accurate measurements of their masses and radii. As such, they serve as excellent testbeds for the theory of stellar structure and evolution. Moreover,…

We present the results of a systematic study of cataclysmic variables (CVs) and related systems, combining detailed binary-population synthesis (BPS) models with a grid of 120 binary evolution sequences calculated with a Henyey-type stellar…

Understanding the galaxy in which we live is one of the great intellectual challenges facing modern science. With the advent of high quality observational data, the chemical evolution modeling of our galaxy has been the subject of numerous…

The Kepler space telescope has revolutionised our knowledge about exoplanets and stars and is continuing to do so in the K2 mission. The exquisite photometric precision, together with the long, uninterrupted observations opened up a new way…

We present a binary evolution study of cataclysmic variables (CVs) and related systems with white dwarf accretors, including for example, AM CVn systems, classical novae, supersoft X-ray sources, and systems with giant donor stars. Our…

Magnetic braking causes the spin-down of single stars as they evolve on the main sequence. Models of magnetic braking can also explain the evolution of close binary systems, including cataclysmic variables. The well-known period gap in the…

Accretion onto compact objects is one of the most fundamental phenomena in the astrophysics, powering some of the most luminous objects in the sky. Along with this, accretion has also a key impact on the evolution of the Universe, through…

The evolution of close binary stars in mass asymmetry (transfer) coordinate is considered. The conditions for the formation of stable symmetric binary stars are analyzed. The role of symmetrization of asymmetric binary star in the…

Three important developments are vastly increasing our understanding of the role of binaries in the dynamical evolution of globular clusters. From the observational side, the Hubble Space Telescope has shown us detailed pictures of the…

Multiple systems play an important role in the evolution of star clusters. First we discuss several formation mechanisms which depend on the presence of binaries, either primordial or of dynamical origin. Hierarchical configurations are…

The discovery and characteristics of transneptunian binaries are reviewed. In the 20 years since their first discovery, a wealth of detail has emerged including the frequency of binaries in different populations, their relative sizes and…

Stellar astrophysicists are increasingly taking into account the effects of orbiting companions on stellar evolution. New discoveries, many thanks to systematic time-domain surveys, have underlined the role of binary star interactions in a…

The study of cataclysmic variable stars has long been a fruitful area of co-operation between amateur and professional astronomers. In this Presidential Address, I shall take stock of our current understanding of these fascinating binary…

The history of stellar seismology suggests that observation and theory often take turns advancing our understanding. The recent tripling of the sample of pulsating white dwarfs generated by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey represents a giant…

In the first part of this article, we review the observational evidence for spirals in the accretion discs of cataclysmic variables. It is shown that with the increasing amount of data available, spirals appear to be an omnipresent feature…

The eruption of a (classical) nova is widely accepted to be a recurrent event in the lifetime of a cataclysmic binary star. In-between eruptions the system should therefore behave as a "normal" cataclysmic variable (CV), i.e. according to…

It is now clear that a binary pathway is responsible for a significant fraction of planetary nebulae, and the continually increasing sample of known central binaries means that we are now in a position to begin to use these systems to…

To mark the half-century anniversary of this newly-born field of Cataclysmic Variables, a special emphasis is made in this review, on the Doppler Effect as a tool in astrophysics. The Doppler Effect was in fact, discovered almost 170 years…