Abstract

Invited Talk - Plenary

Friday, 15 September 2023, 10:00   (H 0104 / virtual plenum)

Stellar Physics and Binary Evolution in the Era of Gravitational Waves

Selma de Mink
MPA Garching

Massive stars do not live their lives alone. The majority is born with a close binary companion or even more than one. The lives of massive stars are thus not simply that of single stars in isolation (as many of our models and most textbooks still often assume). Interactions will affect the majority of massive stars by stripping, mass gain, and mergers. This changes their lives and final fates, producing exotic phenomena including gravitational waves. — If binary stars are indeed so common, then where are the binary products? — In this talk, I will highlight our efforts to search for stars stripped by binary interaction, our plans to search for stellar mergers, and discuss the implications for (our interpretation of) core-collapse supernovae.