Related papers: Stellar mergers and common-envelope evolution
In models of hierarchical structure formation, interactions and mergers at high redshift play a key role in the formation and evolution of galaxies. Numerical modeling and observations of nearby systems explore the detailed physics of…
Planetary Nebulae represent a powerful window into the evolution of low-intermediate mass stars that have undergone extensive mass-loss. The nebula manifests itself in an extremely wide variety of shapes, but exactly how the mass lost is…
Globular clusters are among the most congested stellar systems in the Universe. Internal dynamical evolution drives them toward states of high central density, while simultaneously concentrating the most massive stars and binary systems in…
The correspondence between galaxy major mergers and starburst activity is well-established observationally and in simulations of low redshift galaxies. However, the evolution of the properties of interactions and of the galaxies involved…
Recent detections of gravitational waves from mergers of neutron stars (NSs) and black holes (BHs) in the low and high-end mass gap regimes pose a puzzle to standard stellar and binary evolution theory. Mass-gap mergers may originate from…
The common envelope phase was first proposed more than forty years ago to explain the origins of evolved, close binaries like cataclysmic variables. It is now believed that the phase plays a critical role in the formation of a wide variety…
The study of massive binary systems has steadily progressed over the past decades, with increasing focus on their evolution, interactions and mergers, driven by improvements in computational modelling and observational techniques. In…
We explore a newly proposed channel to create binary black holes of stellar origin. This scenario applies to massive, tight binaries where mixing induced by rotation and tides transports the products of hydrogen burning throughout the…
From this vast subject, I will pick out and review three specific topics, namely the formation and evolution of bars, the formation of bulges, and the evolution during multiple major mergers. Bars form naturally in galactic discs. Their…
The early evolution of dense star clusters is possibly dominated by close interactions between stars, and physical collisions between stars may occur quite frequently. Simulating a stellar collision event can be an intensive numerical task,…
This paper addresses the questions of what we have learned about how and when dense star clusters form, and what studies of star clusters have revealed about galaxy formation and evolution. One important observation is that globular…
Selected results from recent studies of star formation in galaxies at different stages of interaction are reviewed. Recent results from the Spitzer Space Telescope are highlighted. Ideas on how large-scale driving of star formation in…
Binary neutron star mergers observations are a unique way to constrain fundamental physics and astrophysics at the extreme. The interpretation of gravitational-wave events and their electromagnetic counterparts crucially relies on…
Rotation has a number of important effects on the evolution of stars. Apart from structural changes because of the centrifugal force, turbulent mixing and meridional circulation caused by rotation can dramatically affect a star's chemical…
In the current galaxy formation scenarios, two physical phenomena are invoked to build disk galaxies: hierarchical mergers and more quiescent external gas accretion, coming from intergalactic filaments. Although both are thought to play a…
Globular clusters formed in galactic mergers (e.g., The Antennae) can now be studied at different stages of their evolution. In young merger remnants (e.g., NGC 7252) these "second-generation" globulars appear by the hundreds as young halo…
The evolution of star clusters is determined by several internal and external processes. Here we focus on two dominant internal effects, namely energy exchange between stars through close encounters (two-body relaxation) and mass-loss of…
Stellar triples with massive stellar components are common, and can lead to sequential binary black-hole mergers. Here, we outline the evolution towards these sequential mergers, and explore these events in the context of gravitational-wave…
Blue stragglers are thought to be formed from the merger or coalescence of two stars, but the details of their formation in clusters has been difficult to disentangle. We discuss the two main formation mechanisms for blue stragglers…
With the first observation of a binary neutron star merger through gravitational waves and light GW170817, compact binary mergers have now taken the center stage in nuclear astrophysics. They are thought to be one of the main astrophysical…