Related papers: Planetary Nebulae Shaped By Common Envelope Evolut…
A significant fraction of planetary nebulae (PNe) and proto-planetary nebulae (PPNe) exhibit aspherical, axisymmetric structures, many of which are highly collimated. The origin of these structures is not entirely understood, however recent…
It is now clear that central star binarity plays a key role in the formation and evolution of planetary nebulae, with a significant fraction playing host to close-binary central stars which have survived one or more common envelope…
Stellar mergers and common-envelope evolution are fast (dynamical-timescale) interactions in binary stars that drastically alter their evolution. They are key to understanding a plethora of astrophysical phenomena. Stellar mergers are…
We calculate the X-ray emission from the shocked fast wind blown by the central stars of planetary nebulae (PNs) and compare with observations. Using spherically symmetric self similar solutions, we calculate the flow structure and X-ray…
Planetary nebulae (PNe) can be roughly categorized into several broad morphological classes. The high quality images of PNe acquired in recent years, however, have revealed a wealth of fine structures that preclude simplistic models for…
As massive stars evolve, their winds change. This causes a series of hydrodynamical interactions in the surrounding medium. Whenever a fast wind follows a slow wind phase, the fast wind sweeps up the slow wind in a shell, which can be…
I examine images of 50 planetary nebulae (PNe) with observable post-common envelope evolution (CEE) binary central stars and find that jets are about 40 percent more common than dense equatorial outflows. Because, in some cases, energetic…
Close binary central stars of planetary nebulae are key in constraining the poorly-understood common-envelope phase of evolution, which in turn is critical in understanding the formation of a wide-range of astrophysical phenomena (including…
Understanding post-common-envelope evolution is important in the studies of close-binary systems. The majority of all interacting binaries with a compact object in their system (e.g. cataclysmic variables, X-ray binaries) are thought to…
It is now clear that a binary formation pathway is responsible for a significant fraction of planetary nebulae, and this increased sample of known binaries means that we are now in a position to begin to constrain their influence on the…
Circumstellar envelopes (CEs) around evolved stars are an active site for the production of molecules. After evolving through the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB), proto-planetary nebula (PPN), to planetary nebula (PN) phases, CEs ultimately…
Pulsars steadily dissipate their rotational energy via relativistic winds. Confinement of these outflows generates luminous pulsar wind nebulae, seen across the electromagnetic spectrum in synchrotron and inverse Compton emission, and in…
We have computed new stellar evolution models that include the effects of rotation and magnetic torques under different hypothesis. The goal is to test if a single star can sustain in the envelope the rotational velocities needed for the…
The common envelope phase of binary star evolution plays a central role in many evolutionary pathways leading to the formation of compact objects in short period systems. Using three dimensional hydrodynamical computations, we review the…
We present new binary stellar evolution models that include the effects of tidal forces, rotation, and magnetic torques with the goal of testing Planetary Nebulae (PNe) shaping via binary interaction. We explore whether tidal interaction…
The dynamical evolution of triple stellar systems could induce the formation of compact binaries and binary mergers. Common envelope (CE) evolution, which plays a major role in the evolution of compact binary systems, can similarly play a…
At least one in five of all planetary nebulae are the product of a common envelope (CE) interaction, where the companion in-spirals into the envelope of an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star ejecting the nebula and leaving behind a compact…
Studies of the relationship between planetary nebula morphology and the evolution of the central stars has long suffered from uncertainties in distance determinations, and from the bias of interstellar absorption, that are typical for…
Thermonuclear and core-collapse supernova remnants (SNRs) are the nebular leftovers of defunct stars. Their morphology and emission properties provide insights into the evolutionary history of the progenitor star. But while some SNRs are…
Mass loss from massive stars ($\ga 8 \msun$) can result in the formation of circumstellar wind blown cavities surrounding the star, bordered by a thin, dense, cold shell. When the star explodes as a core-collapse supernova (SN), the…