Related papers: Revisiting symbiotic binaries with interferometry.…
This paper reviews current knowledge of symbiotic binaries, with special emphasis on their multifrequency observational characteristics, and basic parameters of the symbiotic system components. We start with a brief presentation of variable…
We discuss mm/submm spectra of a sample of symbiotic binary systems, and compare them with popular models proposed to account for their radio emission. We find that radio emission from quiescent S-type systems originates from a conical…
Long secondary periods (LSPs), observed in a third of pulsating red giant stars, are the only unexplained type of large-amplitude stellar variability known at this time. Here we show that this phenomenon is a manifestation of a substellar…
Observations of increasingly higher spatial resolution reveal the existence of asymmetries in the circumstellar envelopes of a small fraction of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. Although there is no general consensus for their origin, a…
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…
Symbiotic stars are long-orbital-period interacting-binaries characterized by extended emission over the whole electromagnetic range and by complex photometric and spectroscopic variability. In this paper, the first of a series, we present…
Symbiotic X-ray binaries form a subclass of low-mass X-ray binary systems consisting of a neutron star accreting material from a red giant donor star via stellar wind or Roche lobe overflow. Only a few confirmed members are currently known;…
We report on our survey for rapid (time scale of minutes) photometric variability in symbiotic binaries. These binaries are becoming an increasingly important place to study accretion onto white dwarfs since they are candidate Type Ia…
Modelling ellipsoidal variables with known distances can lead to exact determination of the masses of both components, even in the absence of eclipses. We present such modelling using light and radial velocity curves of ellipsoidal red…
We have measured the projected rotational velocities (vsini) in a number of symbiotic stars and M giants using high resolution spectroscopic observations. On the basis of our measurements and data from the literature, we compare the…
Nearby companions alter the evolution of massive stars in binary systems. Using a sample of Galactic massive stars in nearby young clusters, we simultaneously measure all intrinsic binary characteristics relevant to quantify the frequency…
We investigate the progenitors of long-period hot subdwarf B (sdB) binaries, which form when low-mass red giant branch (RGB) stars lose their envelopes through stable Roche lobe overflow (RLOV) near the tip of the RGB. We aim to expand our…
The recent discovery of long-period eccentric binaries hosting a He-WD or a sdB star has been challenging binary-star modelling. Based on accurate determinations of the stellar and orbital parameters for IP Eri, a K0 + He-WD system, we…
I review the process of mass transfer in a binary system through a stellar wind, with an emphasis on systems containing a red giant. I show how wind accretion in a binary system is different from the usually assumed Bondi-Hoyle…
We present an analysis of 168 oscillating red giants from NASA's $Kepler$ mission that exhibit anomalous peaks in their Fourier amplitude spectra. These peaks result from ellipsoidal variations which are indicative of binary star systems,…
Approximately one-third of luminous pulsating red giant stars exhibit long secondary periods (LSPs): stable photometric variability with periods of several months to years in addition to their much shorter primary pulsation cycles. Now…
The stability criteria of rapid mass transfer and common-envelope evolution are fundamental in binary star evolution. They determine the mass, mass ratio, and orbital distribution of many important systems, such as X-ray binaries, type Ia…
By modelling H$^0$ column densities in eclipsing S-type symbiotic stars EG And and SY Mus, we derived the wind velocity profile and the corresponding mass-loss rate from their giants. Our analysis revealed a strong enhancement of the wind…
We present results of high resolution (~ 55000) spectral observations of 830 photometrically pre-selected candidate red giants in the magnitude range of V = 9-12. We develop a pipeline for automated determination of the stellar atmospheric…
This paper summarizes our recent results on tidal interaction in high mass X-ray binaries and symbiotic stars. We demonstrate that the giant in symbiotic stars with orbital periods <1200 d are co-rotating (synchronized). The symbiotics MWC…