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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Atlantic/Canary:20210223T123000
DTEND;TZID=Atlantic/Canary:20210223T133000
UID:iactalks-1444
X-WR-CALNAME: IAC Talks: Open Astronomy Seminars
X-ORIGINAL-URL: /iactalks/Talks/view/1444
CREATED:2021-02-23T12:30:00+00:00
X-WR-CALDESC: IAC Talks upcomming talks
SUMMARY:The evolution of massive contact binaries: model predictions for th
 e Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way
DESCRIPTION:The evolution of massive contact binaries: model predictions fo
 r the Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way\nDr. Athira Menon\n\nThe majorit
 y of massive stars are born in close binary systems with orbital periods o
 f a few days. At some point during their core-hydrogen burning phase, both
  members of these close binaries inevitably overflow their Roche lobes sim
 ultaneously and get bound by a common equipotential surface. The character
 istics of this `contact phase’ will determine the fate of the binary
  system: whether the stars will merge on the main sequence or evolve furth
 er towards becoming potential gravitational-wave progenitors. Although dat
 a is available for several of these massive contact binaries in the Magell
 anic Clouds and the Milky Way, there has not been a dedicated study of the
 se systems so far. In this talk, I will present the first set of detailed 
 binary models covering a wide range of initial masses (20-80 Msun) and ini
 tial periods (0.6-2 days), focusing especially on the properties of the co
 ntact phase. We find that our models can approximately reproduce the perio
 d-mass ratio trend of the observed binaries although for the higher masses
  of our grid, our model predictions do not match with what is observed. We
  also find that those binary models which are in contact over nuclear time
 scales evolve towards equal masses before ultimately merging on the main s
 equence. This first study of massive contact binaries has allowed us to ga
 in insights into the physics of massive contact systems and also provide r
 easonable predictions for the final fate of close massive binary stars.
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