Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Interacting stars are both abundant and an essential ingredient in many astrophysical systems. In fact, most of the stars in our Galaxy are in binary star systems. These are sites of strong stellar interactions, which can be peaceful (exchanging mass) or violent (smashing into each other). Such interactions drastically alter the evolutionary path of a star. We perform detailed calculations of stellar interactions, to understand the formation of black holes and neutron stars, the nature of gamma-ray bursts, Type Ia supernovae, gravitational wave sources, the formation of exotic objects in globular clusters, and stellar populations throughout the Universe.