Related papers: Gamma Cas Stars as Be + White Dwarf Binary Systems

We find that $\sim 15-20$ per cent of A-type stars or red giants are bound with a massive companion ($M_{\rm secondary} > 1M_{\odot}$) in an intermediate wide orbit ($0.5<P<5000\mbox{ yr}$). These massive binaries are expected to form…

Recent calculations of accretion-induced collapse of an oxygen-neon-magnesium white dwarf into a neutron star [Piro & Thompson 2014] allow for a potentially detectable transient electromagnetic signal. Motivated by these results, I present…

The third data release of Gaia was the first to include orbital solutions assuming non-single stars. Here, we apply the astrometric triage technique of Shahaf et al. to identify binary star systems with companions that are not single…

Binary evolution predicts a population of helium core (M < 0.5 Msol) white dwarfs (WDs) that are slowly accreting hydrogen-rich material from low mass main sequence or brown dwarf donors with orbital periods less than four hours. Four…

As the descendants of stars with masses less than 8 M$_{\odot}$ on the main sequence, white dwarfs provide a unique way to constrain planetary occurrence around intermediate-mass stars (spectral types BAF) that are otherwise difficult to…

Hot subdwarf stars of spectral type B (sdBs) are evolved, core helium-burning objects. The formation of those objects is puzzling, because the progenitor star has to lose almost its entire hydrogen envelope in the red-giant phase. Binary…

We report on the detection of a hot subdwarf component in the Be binary system, 59 Cygni. The spectral signature is found in cross-correlation functions of photospheric model spectra with far-ultraviolet spectra obtained by the…

This paper will review the status of our observations and understanding of Be stars in X-ray binary systems. In virtually all cases the binary partner to the Be star is a neutron star. The circumstellar disk provides the accretion fuel and…

Hot subluminous stars can be roughly divided into B- and O-types. Unlike the latter many sdBs are found in close binaries, indicating that binary evolution plays a vital role. Recent NLTE spectral analyses revealed that an evolutionary link…

With its exquisite astrometric precision, the latest Gaia data release includes $\sim$$10^5$ astrometric binaries, each of which have measured orbital periods, eccentricities, and the Thiele-Innes orbital parameters. Using these and an…

The photospheric emission of a white dwarf (WD) is not expected to be detectable in hard X-rays or the mid-IR. Hard X-ray (~1 keV) emission associated with a WD is usually attributed to a binary companion; however, emission at 1 keV has…

Massive stars in binaries can give rise to extreme phenomena such as X-ray binaries and gravitational wave sources after one or both stars end their lives as core-collapse supernovae. Stars in close orbit around a stellar or compact…

The ROSAT WFC survey has provided us with evidence for the existence of a previously unidentified sample of hot white dwarfs (WD) in non-interacting binary systems, through the detection of EUV and soft X-ray emission. These stars are…

Classical Be stars are possible products of close binary evolution, in which the mass donor becomes a hot, stripped O or B-type subdwarf (sdO/sdB), and the mass gainer spins up and grows a disk to become a Be star. While several Be+sdO…

56 UMa is a wide binary system that contains a chemically peculiar red giant and a faint companion. Due to its surface chemical abundances, the red giant was classified as a barium (Ba) star. This implies that the companion has to be a…

Symbiotic binary stars typically consist of a white dwarf (WD) that accretes material from the wind of a companion red giant. Orbital periods for these binaries are on the order of years, and their relatively small optical outbursts tend to…

Dwarf carbon (dC) stars, main sequence stars showing carbon molecular bands, were initially thought to be an oxymoron since only AGB stars dredge carbon into their atmospheres. Mass transfer from a former AGB companion that has since faded…

Only a handful of gas giant planets orbiting white dwarfs are known. It remains unclear whether this paucity reflects observational challenges or the consequences of stellar evolution. We aim to carry out population synthesis of substellar…

Most close double helium white dwarfs will merge within a Hubble time due to orbital decay by gravitational-wave radiation. However, a significant fraction with low mass ratios will survive for a long time as a consequence of stable mass…

Mass transfer between stars in binary systems profoundly impacts their evolution, yet many aspects of this process (especially the stability, mass loss, and eventual fate of such systems) remain poorly understood. One promising avenue to…