Related papers: The structure of contact binaries
We present a study on low-mass contact binaries (LMCB) with orbital periods shorter than 0.3 days and total mass lower than about 1.4 solar mass. We show that such systems have a long pre-contact phase, which lasts for 8-9 Gyrs, while the…
Discs in binaries have a complex behavior because of the perturbations of the companion star. Planet formation in binary-star systems both depend on the companion star parameters and on the properties of the circumstellar disc. An eccentric…
Binary-binary interactions are important in a number of astrophysical contexts including dense stellar systems such as globular clusters. Although less frequent than binary-single encounters, binary-binary interactions lead to a much richer…
We give a global analysis of mass transfer variations in low-mass X-ray binaries and cataclysmic variables whose evolution is driven by the nuclear expansion of the secondary star. We show that limit cycles caused by irradiation of the…
We elaborate on the analytical model of Ritter, Zhang, and Kolb (2000, A&A 360, 959) which describes the basic physics of irradiation-driven mass transfer cycles in semi-detached compact binary systems. In particular, we take into account a…
In contrast to the field, the binaries in dense stellar systems are frequently not primordial, and could be either dynamically formed or significantly altered from their primordial states. Destruction and formation of binaries occur in…
Detached, double-lined spectroscopic binaries which are also eclipsing provide the most accurate determinations of stellar mass, radius, temperature and distance-independent luminosity for each of their individual components, and hence…
A simple question of celestial mechanics is investigated: in what regions of phase space near a binary system can planets persist for long times? The planets are taken to be test particles moving in the field of an eccentric binary system.…
Circumstellar disks in binaries are perturbed by the companion gravity causing significant alterations of the disk morphology. Spiral waves due to the companion tidal force also develop in the vertical direction and affect the disk…
Binary stars are pairs of stars that are gravitationally bound, providing in some cases accurate measurements of their masses and radii. As such, they serve as excellent testbeds for the theory of stellar structure and evolution. Moreover,…
The properties of the early-type binary Cyg OB2 #5 have been debated for many years and spectroscopic and photometric investigations yielded conflicting results. We have attempted to constrain the physical properties of the binary by…
Stellar fundamental properties (masses, radii, effective temperatures) can be extracted from observations of eclipsing binary systems with remarkable precision, often better than 2%. Such precise measurements afford us the opportunity to…
Stellar systems composed of single, double, triple or high-order systems are rightfully regarded as the fundamental building blocks of the Milky Way. Binary stars play an important role in formation and evolution of the Galaxy. Through…
The formation of a binary system surrounded by disks is the most common outcome of stellar formation. Hence studying and understanding the formation and the evolution of binary systems and associated disks is a cornerstone of star formation…
[abridged] We present a unified picture for the evolution of star clusters on the two-body relaxation timescale. We use direct N-body simulations of star clusters in a galactic tidal field starting from different multi-mass King models, up…
In this paper I show that the concept of relativistic beaming -- the process by which light emitted by a fast moving sources is lensed towards the direction of motion -- can be easily extended to model the signal from both the star and any…
Rapid mass transfer in a binary system can drive the accreting star out of thermal equilibrium, causing it to expand. This can lead to a contact system, strong mass loss from the system and possibly merging of the two stars. In low…
About a century ago, Jeans (1919) discovered that if binary stars reach a state approximating energy equipartition, for example through many dynamical encounters that exchange energy, their eccentricity distribution can be described by :…
Brown dwarfs and giant planets orbiting close to a host star are subjected to significant irradiation that can modify the properties of their atmospheres. In order to test the atmospheric models that are used to describe these systems, it…
In dense stellar systems the frequent dynamical interactions between stars play a crucial role in the formation and evolution of compact binaries. We study these processes using a novel approach combining a state-of-the-art binary…