Related papers: Where are the missing Kuiper Belt binaries?
The Cold Classical Kuiper Belt, a class of small bodies in undisturbed orbits beyond Neptune, are primitive objects preserving information about Solar System formation. The New Horizons spacecraft flew past one of these objects, the 36 km…
Binaries containing a stellar-mass black hole and a recycled radio pulsar have so far eluded detection. We present a focused investigation of the formation and evolution of these systems in the Galactic disk, highlighting the factors that…
The orbital parameters of binaries at intermediate periods ($10^2$--$10^3$ d) are difficult to measure with conventional methods and are very incomplete. We have undertaken a new survey, applying our pulsation timing method to {\it Kepler}…
We have detected quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) near 1 kHz from the low mass X-ray binary 4U 0614+091 in observations with XTE. The observations span several months and sample the source over a large range of X-ray luminosity. In every…
Some binary stars experience common envelope evolution, which is accompanied by drastic loss of angular momentum, mass, and orbital energy and which leaves behind close binaries often involving at least one white dwarf, neutron star, or…
Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) at frequencies near 1000 Hz were recently discovered in several x-ray binaries containing neutron stars. Two sources show no correlation between QPO frequency and source count rate (Berger et al. 1996,…
Gas has been detected in many exoplanetary systems ($>$10 Myr), thought to be released in the destruction of volatile-rich planetesimals orbiting in exo-Kuiper belts. In this letter, we aim to explore whether gas is also expected in the…
We perform Bayesian analysis of gravitational-wave signals from non-spinning, intermediate-mass black-hole binaries (IMBHBs) with observed total mass, $M_{\mathrm{obs}}$, from $50\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ to $500\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ and mass ratio…
Structure in the planet distribution provides an insight into the processes that shape the formation and evolution of planets. The Kepler mission has led to an abundance of statistical discoveries in regards to planetary radius, but the…
We investigate the lack of observed low mass black hole binary systems at short periods ( < 4 hours) by comparing the observed orbital period distribution of 17 confirmed low mass Black hole X-ray Binaries (BHXBs) with their implied period…
Recent analyses have shown that distant orbits within the scattered disk population of the Kuiper belt exhibit an unexpected clustering in their respective arguments of perihelion. While several hypotheses have been put forward to explain…
We report on the properties of eclipsing binaries from the Kepler mission with a newly developed photometric modeling code, which uses the light curve, spectral energy distribution of each binary, and stellar evolution models to infer…
We discuss masses of stellar black holes found in binary systems and errors in their determination. The observed mass distribution has a broad shape within the range $4-16 M_\odot$ without visible concentration to some preferred value. On…
A number of authors have proposed that the statistically significant orbital alignment of the most distant Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) is evidence of an as-yet undetected planet in the outer solar system, now referred to colloquially a…
Within the dynamically cold low inclination portion of the Classical Kuiper Belt, there exists a population of weakly bound binary systems with a number of unusual properties; most notable of which is their extremely wide orbital…
The dearth of planets with sizes around 1.8 $\mathrm{R_\oplus}$ is a key demographic feature discovered by the $Kepler$ mission. Two theories have emerged as potential explanations for this valley: photoevaporation and core-powered…
The results of a coordinated space-based photometric and ground-based spectroscopic observing campaign on the enigmatic gamma-ray binary LS 5039 are reported. Sixteen days of observations from the MOST satellite have been combined with…
In recent years, the existence of a gap in the mass spectrum of compact objects formed from stellar collapse, between the heaviest neutron stars and the lightest black holes, has been a matter of significant debate. The presence or absence…
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) measured the colors of eight Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) that will be observed by the New Horizons spacecraft including its 2019 close fly-by target the Cold Classical KBO (486958) 2014 MU69. We find that the…
On August 14, 2019, the LIGO and Virgo detectors observed GW190814, a gravitational-wave signal originating from the merger of a $\simeq 23 M_\odot$ black hole with a $\simeq 2.6 M_\odot$ compact object. GW190814's compact-binary source is…