Stable Mass Transfer in Binaries: from onset to remnants

  • Organized by
  • Jared Goldberg, Ph.D.Flatiron Research Fellow, Stars and Compact Objects, CCA, Flatiron Institute
  • Lieke van Son, Ph.D.Flatiron Research Fellow, Gravitational Wave Astronomy, CCA, Flatiron Institute
  • Mathieu Renzo, Ph.D.Flatiron Research Fellow, Stars and Compact Objects, CCA, Flatiron Institute
Date & Time


Binary interactions shape the evolution, explosion, and afterlife of stars. The most common form of interaction is dynamically stable mass-transfer. The outcome of this mass-transfer phase is crucial to understanding the rate of most transient events (from stellar mergers, to stripped envelope supernovae and gravitational wave mergers), the kinematics of binary products (walkaway/runaways), and the formation rate of objects like Helium stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes.

Although much recent attention has been given to common envelope evolution, many uncertainties remain in the theoretical modeling of stable mass transfer, making predictions about this phase challenging from start to finish. 
Current models, whether in rapid binary population synthesis or detailed stellar structure codes, rely on simple analytic parameterization to address the aforementioned uncertainties.

We are organizing a workshop to address the current state-of -the-art of stable mass-transfer from start to finish, including:

I) the onset and stability of mass transfer,

II) observable signatures during the mass transfer, and

III) post-stable mass transfer configurations. This workshop will bring together a community of theoretical modelers and experts on astronomical transient surveys/data scientists in order to discuss the necessary progress in the treatment of stable mass transfer.

Confimed Speakers:

Meng Sun (Northwestern)
Tomer Shenar (University of Tel Aviv)
Monica-Gallegos Garcia (Northwestern)
Chen Wang (MPA)
Hongwei Ge (Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Brian Metzger (Columbia/CCA)
Julia Bodensteiner (ESO)
Pablo Marchant (KU Leuven)
Holly Preece (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics)

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