报告题目：Stellar mergers and near-mergers, seen and unseen

报 告 人：Stephen Justham

报告时间：1月26日15：00-16:00

报告地点：物理系三楼报告厅

报告摘要：Mergers of stars may explain the production of numerous exotic astronomical objects and events. In addition, near-mergers of stars are strongly believed to be crucial in forming several of the highest-profile classes of stellar system in astrophysics. This near-merger process is called "common-envelope evolution" (CEE) and involves two stars temporarily merging before the envelope of one or both of them is ejected. Sadly our physical understanding of mergers and CEE has only developed slowly, and the observational evidence has mostly remained very indirect. I will give examples of the importance of stellar mergers and CEE, and illustrate where reliance on simplified pictures rather than physical understanding may well have been misleading. I will also explain how, somewhat unexpectedly, near-future direct observations should be revolutionary for the field.