Related papers: The Slow Merger of Massive Stars
Stellar mergers are responsible for a large variety of astrophysical phenomena. They form blue straggler stars, give rise to spectacular transients, and produce some of the most massive stars in the Universe. Here, we focus on mergers from…
Even after elaborate investigations for 30 years, we still do not know well how the progenitor of SN 1987A has evolved. To explain unusual red-to-blue evolution, previous studies suggest that in a red giant stage either the increase of…
We present the results of a detailed, systematic stellar evolution study of binary mergers for blue supergiant (BSG) progenitors of Type II supernovae. In particular, these are the first evolutionary models that can simultaneously reproduce…
We present a grid of rotating supergiant models from post-main sequence binary merger products, constructed by the MESA stellar evolution code. We focus on the evolution of these stars until core-collapse, in addition to their rotation,…
Stellar mergers and common-envelope evolution are fast (dynamical-timescale) interactions in binary stars that drastically alter their evolution. They are key to understanding a plethora of astrophysical phenomena. Stellar mergers are…
We study the nucleosynthesis and the induced mixing during the merging of massive stars inside a common envelope. The systems of interest are close binaries, initially consisting of a massive red supergiant and a main-sequence companion of…
In young dense clusters repeated collisions between massive stars may lead to the formation of a very massive star (above 100 Msun). In the past the study of the long-term evolution of merger remnants has mostly focussed on collisions…
Post-main-sequence binary mergers are a common evolutionary pathway for massive stars, but the effects of merging on the long-term structure and evolution of the resulting star are a matter of active debate. Furthermore, the way in which…
We investigate the evolution of collisionally merged stars with mass of ~100 MSun which might be formed in dense star clusters. We assumed that massive stars with several tens Msun collide typically after ~1Myr of the formation of the…
Galaxy mergers trigger both star formation and accretion onto the central supermassive black hole. As a result of subsequent energetic feedback processes, it has long been proposed that star formation may be promptly extinguished in galaxy…
Massive stars can develop into tepid supergiants at several stages of their post main-sequence evolution, prior to core He-burning, on a blue loop, or close to the final supernova explosion. We discuss observational constraints on models of…
When two stars collide and merge they form a new star that can stand out against the background population in a starcluster as a blue straggler. In so called collision runaways many stars can merge and may form a very massive star that…
In the cores of young dense star clusters repeated stellar collisions involving the same object can occur, which has been suggested to lead to the formation of an intermediate-mass black hole. In order to verify this scenario we compute the…
We study close encounters involving massive main sequence stars and the evolution of the exotic products of these encounters as common--envelope systems or possible hypernova progenitors. We show that parabolic encounters between low-- and…
We perform three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of aspherical core-collapse supernovae focusing on the matter mixing in SN 1987A. The impacts of four progenitor (pre-supernova) models and parameterized aspherical explosions are…
Neutron star (NS) mergers where both stars have negligible spins are commonly considered as the most likely ``standard'' case. In globular clusters, however, the majority of NSs have been spun up to millisecond (ms) periods and, based on…
(Abridged) We develop and test a model for the cosmological role of mergers in the formation and quenching of red, early-type galaxies. Making the ansatz that star formation is quenched after a gas-rich, spheroid-forming major merger, we…
We quantify an evolutionary channel for single sdB stars based on mergers of binaries containing a red giant star and a lower mass main sequence or brown dwarf companion in our Galaxy. Population synthesis calculations that follow mergers…
Massive stars becoming red supergiants lose a significant amount of their mass during that brief evolutionary phase. They then either explode as a hydrogen-rich supernova (SN Type II), or continue to evolve as a hotter supergiant (before…
Mergers between helium white dwarfs and main-sequence stars are likely common, producing red giant-like remnants making up roughly a few percent of all low-mass ($\lesssim2M_\odot$) red giants. Through detailed modeling, we show that these…