Title: Violent interactions of binary stars and the associated outbursts



Abstract: One of the formation channels of compact object binaries, including sources of gravitational waves, critically depends on violent binary interactions accompanied by the loss of mass, angular momentum, and energy ("common envelope" evolution - CEE). For decades, CEE has been a major unsolved problem in binary star astrophysics with most observations probing CEE only indirectly by looking at progenitor or remnant stellar populations. Recently, the dynamical phase of the CEE has been associated with a class of transient brightenings called Luminous Red Novae (LRNe), which exhibit slow expansion velocities and copious formation of dust and molecules. LRNe offer us a new way to directly probe CEE. In this talk, I will provide a basic review of the CEE and show some surprising results from LRN observations.

Astro Colloquium and 'coffee & cookies' department gathering (3:45-4:00pm)

Please click the link to join virtually: https://psu.zoom.us/j/92637070419