Related papers: The White Dwarf Pareto: Tracing Mass Loss in Binar…
The main goal of this work was to measure the masses and radii of white dwarfs that belong to widely separated, common proper motion binaries with non-degenerate companions. These can be assessed, independently from theoretical mass-radius…
A White Dwarf (WD) star and a main-sequence companion may interact through their different stellar evolution stages. This sort of binary population has historically helped us improve our understanding of binary formation and evolution…
In a liberal evolutionary scenario, mass can escape from a binary during eras of fast mass transfer. We calculate the mass lost by binaries with a B-type primary at birth where mass transfer starts during hydrogen core burning of the donor.…
From a sample of spectra of 439 white dwarfs (WDs) from the ESO-VLT Supernova-Ia Progenitor surveY (SPY), we measure the maximal changes in radial-velocity (DRVmax) between epochs (generally two epochs, separated by up to 470d), and model…
The initial-final mass relationship of white dwarfs, which is poorly constrained, is of paramount importance for different aspects in modern astrophysics. From an observational perspective, most of the studies up to now have been done using…
Increasing observations of white dwarf atmospheric pollution and disrupting planetesimals is driving increased studies into the fate of exo-asteroids around post-main-sequence stars. Planetesimal populations in the Solar System which are…
We compare the mass distribution of central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPN) with those of their progeny, white dwarfs (WD). We use a dynamical method to measure masses with an uncertainty of 0.02 M$_\odot$. The CSPN mass distribution is…
We present 594 radial velocity measurements for 71 white dwarfs obtained during our search for binary white dwarfs and not reported elsewhere. We identify three excellent candidate binaries, which require further observations to confirm our…
We use the results of realistic N-body simulations to investigate the appearance of the white dwarf population in dense star clusters. We show that the presence of a substantial binary population in a star cluster, and the interaction of…
Sun-like stars are known to host a paucity of brown dwarf companions at close separations. Direct imaging surveys of intermediate-mass stars have suggested that the brown dwarf desert may be fundamentally a feature in the mass ratio.…
Binary properties are usually expressed (for good observational reasons) as a function of primary mass. It has been found that the distribution of companion masses -- the mass ratio distribution -- is different for different primary masses.…
Double white dwarf (DWD) binaries are natural outcomes of binary stellar evolution and key sources for future space-based gravitational wave (GW) observatories such as Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). We investigate how different…
Binary stars and their interactions shape the formation of compact binaries, supernovae, and gravitational wave sources. The efficiency of mass transfer - the fraction of mass retained by the accretor during binary interaction - is a…
White dwarfs are the most common endpoints of stellar evolution. They are often found in close binary systems in which the white dwarf is accreting matter from a companion star, either via an accretion disc or channelled along the white…
We provide an analysis of the mass ratio distribution as gathered from almost all of the 559 orbital solutions derived by Professor Roger Griffin in his long series in the Observatory Magazine about "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from…
Liberal evolution of interacting binaries has been proposed previously by several authors in order to meet various observed binary characteristics better than conservative evolution does. Since Algols are eclipsing binaries the distribution…
Recent studies of white dwarfs in open clusters have provided new constraints on the initial - final mass relationship (IFMR) for main sequence stars with masses in the range 2.5 - 6.5 Mo. We re-evaluate the ensemble of data that determines…
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…
We present observational constraints for the initial-to-final mass relation (IFMR) derived from 11 white dwarfs (WDs) in wide binaries (WBs) that contain a turnoff/subgiant primary. Because the components of WBs are coeval to a good…
Over a quarter of white dwarfs have photospheric metal pollution, which is evidence for recent accretion of exoplanetary material. While a wide range of mechanisms have been proposed to account for this pollution, there are currently few…