Related papers: The final orbital separation in common envelope ev…
Recent observations have demonstrated that some subset of even moderately wide-separation planet-hosting binaries are preferentially configured such that planetary and binary orbits appear to lie within the same plane. In this work, we…
The treatment and criteria for development of unstable Roche lobe overflow (RLOF) that leads to the common envelope (CE) phase have hindered the evolutionary predictions for decades. In particular, the formation of black hole-black hole…
There is a striking and unexplained dearth of brown dwarf companions in close orbits (< 3AU) around stars more massive than the Sun, in stark contrast to the frequency of stellar and planetary companions. Although rare and relatively…
Over time, tides synchronize the rotation periods of stars in a binary system to the orbital period. However, if the star exhibits differential rotation then only a portion of it can rotate at the orbital period, so the rotation period at…
Born-again planetary nebulae (PNe) are extremely rare cases in the evolution of solar-like stars. It is commonly accepted that their central stars (CSPN) experienced a very late thermal pulse (VLTP), ejecting H-deficient material inside the…
We performed numerical simulations of the common envelope (CE) interaction between thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars of 1.7~\Msun and 3.7~\Msun, respectively, and a 0.6~\Msun compact companion. We use tabulated equations…
Massive close binary stars with extremely small separations have been observed, and they are possible progenitors of gravitational-wave sources. The evolution of massive binaries in the protostellar accretion stage is key to understanding…
We investigate the hypothesis that stars form in aggregates of binary systems and that the dynamical evolution of these aggregates leads to the observed properties of binary stars in the Galactic field. We assume that the initial…
Planets and other low-mass binary companions to stars face a variety of potential fates as their host stars move off the main sequence and grow to subgiants and giants. Stellar mass loss tends to make orbits expand, and tidal torques tend…
Stars are commonly formed in binary systems, which provide a natural laboratory for studying planet formation in extreme conditions. In our first paper (Paper I) of a series Xie et al. (2011), we have shown that the intermediate stage -…
At least two arguments suggest that the orbits of a large fraction of binary stars and extrasolar planets shrank by 1-2 orders of magnitude after formation: (i) the physical radius of a star shrinks by a large factor from birth to the main…
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…
Convective boundary mixing (CBM) in the advanced evolutionary stages of massive stars is not well understood. Structural changes caused by convection have an impact on the evolution as well as the subsequent supernova, or lack thereof. The…
Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) can detect the low-frequency stochastic gravitational-wave background (GWB) generated by an ensemble of supermassive black hole binaries (BHBs). Accurate determination of BHB merger timescales is essential for…
Using our recently improved Monte Carlo evolution code, we study the evolution of the binary fraction in globular clusters. In agreement with previous N-body simulations, we find generally that the hard binary fraction in the core tends to…
In this Letter we discuss what happens to hydrogen recombination energy that is released during regular common envelope (CE) events, as opposed to self-regulated CE events. We show that the amount of recombination energy that can be…
Although tidal dissipation in binary stars has been studied for over a century, theoretical predictions have yet to match the observed properties of binary populations. This work quantitatively examines the recent proposal of tidal…
We performed numerical simulations of the common envelope (CE) interaction between two intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and their low-mass companions. For the first time, formation and growth of dust in the envelope is…
Close binary central stars of planetary nebulae (PNe) must have formed through a common envelope evolution during the giant phase experienced by one of the stars. Transfer of the angular momentum from the binary system to the envelope leads…
The morphologies of planetary nebula have long been believed to be due to wind shaping processes in which a fast wind from the central star impacts a previously ejected envelope. Asymmetries assumed to exist in the slow wind envelope lead…