Related papers: Common Envelope Evolution of Massive Stars
Gravitational waves from merging binary black holes can be used to shed light on poorly understood aspects of massive binary stellar evolution, such as the evolution of massive stars (including their mass-loss rates), the common envelope…
In this note we suggest that high-mass black holes; i.e., black holes of several solar masses, can be formed in binaries with low-mass main-sequence companions, provided that the hydrogen envelope of the massive star is removed in common…
We present the results of a systematic study of the formation and evolution of binaries containing black holes and normal-star companions with a wide range of masses. We first reexamine the standard formation scenario for close black-hole…
Stellar models indicate that the core compactness of a star, which is a common proxy for its explodability in a supernova, does not increase monotonically with the star's mass. Rather, the core compactness dips sharply over a range of…
Common envelopes form in dynamical time scale mass exchange, when the envelope of a donor star engulfs a much denser companion, and the core of the donor plus the dense companion star spiral inward through this dissipative envelope. As…
The recently detected gravitational wave signals (GW150914 and GW151226) of the merger event of a pair of relatively massive stellar-mass black holes (BHs) calls for an investigation of the formation of such progenitor systems in general.…
The evolution of helium stars with initial masses in the range 1.6 to 120 Msun is studied, including the effects of mass loss by winds. These stars are assumed to form in binary systems when their expanding hydrogenic envelopes are promptly…
We describe early success in the evolution of binary black hole spacetimes with a numerical code based on a generalization of harmonic coordinates. Indications are that with sufficient resolution this scheme is capable of evolving binary…
The formation and evolution of binary black holes (BH) is studied using the modern evolutionary scenario for very massive stars with high mass loss (Vanbeveren et al. 1998). Main sequence stars with masses $M>35 M_\odot$ are assumed to form…
The morphology of planetary nebulae emerging from the common envelope phase of binary star evolution is investigated. Using initial conditions based on the numerical results of hydrodynamical simulations of the common envelope phase it is…
The evolution of low mass (M < 2.5 Msun) binaries through the common envelope phase has been studied for systems in which one member is on its first ascent of the red giant branch. Three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations have been…
We simulate mergers between galaxies containing collisionally-relaxed nuclei around massive black holes (MBHs). Our galaxies contain four mass groups, representative of old stellar populations; a primary goal is to understand the…
A stellar common envelope occurs in a binary system when the atmosphere of an evolving star expands to encompass an orbiting companion object. Such systems are predicted to evolve rapidly, ejecting the stellar envelope and leaving the…
Modeling the evolution of progenitors of gravitational-wave merger events in binary stars faces two major uncertainties: the common-envelope phase and supernova kicks. These two processes are critical for the final orbital configuration of…
A binary neutron star merger has been observed in a multi-messenger detection of gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) radiation. Binary neutron stars that merge within a Hubble time, as well as many other compact binaries, are…
Massive stars are usually found in binaries, and binaries with periods less than 10 days may have a preference for near equal component masses. In this paper we investigate the evolution of these binaries all the way to contact and the…
We present three-dimensional local hydrodynamic simulations of flows around objects embedded within stellar envelopes using a "wind tunnel" formalism. Our simulations model the common envelope dynamical inspiral phase in binary star systems…
Stellar-mass black holes are discovered in X-ray emitting binary systems, where their mass can be determined from the dynamics of their companion stars. Models of stellar evolution have difficulty producing black holes in close binaries…
The formation of compact binary systems is largely driven by their evolution through a common envelope (CE) phase, crucial for understanding phenomena such as type Ia supernovae and black hole mergers. Despite their importance, direct…
We present the first study of the dynamical evolution of an isolated star cluster that combines a significant population of primordial binaries with the presence of a central black hole. We use equal-mass direct N-body simulations, with N…