Related papers: Detection of additional Be+sdO systems from IUE sp…
It has been suggested that besides stellar companions, substellar objects in close orbits may be able to trigger mass loss in a common envelope phase and form hot subdwarfs. In an ongoing project we search for close substellar companions…
We describe radial velocity observations of a large sample of apparently single white dwarfs (WDs), obtained in a long-term effort to discover close, double-degenerate (DD) pairs which might comprise viable Type Ia Supernova (SN Ia)…
Because many classical Be stars may owe their nature to mass and angular-momentum transfer in a close binary, the present masses, temperatures, and radii of their components are of high interest for comparison to stellar evolution models.…
Neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes are the remnants of massive stars, which ended their lives in supernova explosions. These exotic objects can only be studied in relatively rare cases. If they are interacting with close companions…
Hot subluminous stars of spectral type B and O are core helium-burning stars at the blue end of the horizontal branch or have evolved even beyond that stage. Strikingly, the distribution in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of He-rich vs.…
We present the results of a multiplicity survey for a magnitude-limited sample of 31 classical Be stars conducted with the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer and the Mark III Stellar Interferometer. The interferometric observations were…
We give a brief review over the observational evidence for close substellar companions to hot subdwarf stars. The formation of these core helium-burning objects requires huge mass loss of their red giant progenitors. It has been suggested…
Young, intermediate-mass stars are experiencing renewed interest as targets for direct-imaging planet searches. However, these types of stars are part of multiple systems more often than not. Close stellar companions affect the formation…
The origin of the bright and hard X-ray emission flux among the gamma Cas subgroup of B-emission line (Be) stars may be caused by gas accretion onto an orbiting white dwarf (WD) companion. Such Be+WD binaries are the predicted outcome of a…
Surveys of nearby field stars indicate that stellar binaries are common, yet little is known about the effects that these companions may have on planet formation and evolution. The Friends of Hot Jupiters project uses three complementary…
Distinguishing classes within substellar objects and understanding their formation and evolution need larger samples of substellar companions such as exoplanets, brown dwarfs, and low-mass stars. In this paper, we look for substellar…
We present a small collection of FUSE spectra representative of the main spectral classes found in white dwarf stars. In addition, we also discuss another family of hot evolved stars, that of the hot subdwarfs. Both families belong to the…
Using observations from Chandra, Swift and XMM-Newton, we investigate the high-energy properties of all known (18) Be+sdO systems as well as 7 additional Be binaries suspected to harbour stripped stars. The observed X-ray properties are…
Most known white dwarfs in multiple systems with main sequence stars have been discovered with M-type companions, because the white dwarf causes detectable UV excess and bluer colors than expected from a single M star. Surveys have shown…
We report on the analysis of high-resolution optical spectra for 77 subdwarf B (sdB) stars from the ESO Supernova Ia Progenitor Survey. Effective temperature, surface gravity, and photospheric helium abundance are determined simultaneously…
We confirmed the binary nature of the Be star 7~Vul, derived a~more accurate spectroscopic orbit with an orbital period of (69.4212+/-0.0034) d, and improved the knowledge of the basic physical elements of the system. Analyzing available…
The Galactic Be star binary MWC 656 was long considered the only known Be star+black hole (BH) system, making it a critical benchmark for models of massive binary evolution and for the expected X-ray emission of Be+BH binaries. However,…
We present the analysis of a high-resolution, high-quality sample of optical spectra for 76 subdwarf B (sdB) stars from the ESO Supernova Ia Progenitor Survey (SPY). Effective temperature, surface gravity, and photospheric helium abundance…
Prompted by peculiar spectroscopic variability observed in SDSS/APOGEE $H$-band spectra, we monitored the Be star HD 55606 using optical spectroscopy and found that it is an exotic double-lined spectroscopic binary (SB2) consisting of a Be…
The formation of hot subdwarf stars (sdBs), which are core helium-burning stars located on the extended horizontal branch, is still not understood. Many of the known hot subdwarf stars reside in close binary systems with short orbital…