Related papers: Luminous Blue Variables are Antisocial: Their Isol…
Without doubt, mass transfer in close binary systems contributes to the populations of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. However, the binary formation channel is so far not well explored. We want to remedy…
Very low-mass binaries (VLMBs), with system masses <0.2 Msun appear to have very different properties to stellar binaries. This has led to the suggestion that VLMBs form a distinct and different population. As most stars are born in…
Nearby companions alter the evolution of massive stars in binary systems. Using a sample of Galactic massive stars in nearby young clusters, we simultaneously measure all intrinsic binary characteristics relevant to quantify the frequency…
We discuss some aspects of stellar evolution in binary systems. While single stars can swell following the chemical evolution of their interior, stars belonging to binary systems cannot overflow the size of the Roche lobe and hydrostatic…
Low-mass giants with large amounts of lithium (Li) have challenged stellar evolution for decades. One of the possibilities usually discussed to explain them involves the interaction with a close binary companion. This predicts that when…
Binary systems can evolve into immensely different exotic systems such as blue straggle stars (BSSs), yellow straggler stars, cataclysmic variables, type Ia supernovae depending on their initial mass, the orbital parameters and evolution.…
Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are massive stars with extreme luminosities, exhibiting significant irregular photometric and spectroscopic variability. This paper is dedicated to the study of dormant LBV Var$\,$2 in the galaxy M33, which…
In open star clusters, where all members formed at about the same time, blue straggler stars are typically observed to be brighter and bluer than hydrogen-burning main-sequence stars, and therefore should already have evolved into giant…
The star-forming galaxies of the Local Group act as our laboratories for testing massive star evolutionary models. In this review, I briefly summarize what we believe we know about massive star evolution, and the connection between OB…
Galactic nuclei are often found to contain young stellar populations and, in most cases, a central supermassive black hole (SMBH). Most known massive stars are found in binaries or higher-multiplicity systems, and in a galactic nucleus the…
The interaction between supernova ejecta and circumstellar matter, arising from previous episodes of mass loss, provides us with a means with which to constrain the progenitors of supernovae. Radio observations of a number of supernovae…
We present radiation-driven wind models for Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) and predict their mass-loss rates. We study the effects of lower masses and modified abundances in comparison to the normal OB supergiants, and we find that the main…
The recent gravitational wave measurements have demonstrated the existence of stellar mass black hole binaries. It is essential for our understanding of massive star evolution to identify the contribution of binary evolution to the…
Blue supergiants (BSGs) mediate between the main sequence and the late stages of massive stars, which makes them valuable for assessing the physics that drives the stars across the diverse evolutionary channels. By exploring correlations…
Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are evolved massive stars close to the Eddington limit, with a distinct spectroscopic and photometric variability having unsteady mass-loss rates. These stars show a considerable change in their surface…
Long secondary periods (LSPs), observed in a third of pulsating red giant stars, are the only unexplained type of large-amplitude stellar variability known at this time. Here we show that this phenomenon is a manifestation of a substellar…
We study the formation of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) through helium star supernovae in binary systems that have each emerged from a common-envelope phase. LMXB progenitors must satisfy a large number of evolutionary and structural…
We predict quantitative mass-loss rates and terminal wind velocities for early-type supergiants and luminous blue variables (LBVs) using a dynamical version of the Monte Carlo radiative transfer method. First, the observed drop in terminal…
For sufficiently wide orbital separations {\it a}, the two members of a stellar binary evolve independently. This implies that in a wide double white dwarf (DWD), the more massive WD should always be produced first, when its more massive…
Self-lensing (SL) in binary systems has the potential to provide a unique observational window into the Galactic population of compact objects. Using the $\mathtt{startrack}$ and COSMIC population synthesis codes, we investigate how…