Welcome to the homepage of the IAU Working Group on Active B Stars and its Be Star Newsletter.
The Working Group on Active B Stars (WGABS) was formed to promote and stimulate research and international collaboration in the field of active B stars. The WGABS is open to all researchers interested in the field.
For an introduction to the features of this site and more details about the WGABS, please see "About this site", for further support or ideas how to improve the site please contact the online editors at activebstars@astro.iag.usp.br or drop them in our suggestion box.
Please Note: We will be gradually updating and refurbishing the web page, beginning with this home page.
Upcoming: IAU Working Group on Active B Stars Talks
The WG has series of talks, normally held the third Wednesday of each month at 10:00 am Eastern Time (EST, 14:00 UT), by zoom. The next talk is scheduled for Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Please note the time is ONE HOUR LATER than usual.
Seminar organizing committee: Carol Jones, Alex Carciofi, Dietrich Baade, Gregg Wade and Atsuo Okazaki. If have questions or suggestions for the s3eries, please contact the any of the committee members.
Speaker: Dr. Ylva Goetberg from The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science and a NASA Hubble fellow
Title: Stars stripped in binaries: from theory to observation
Abstract:
Stars stripped of their hydrogen-rich envelopes via interaction with a binary companion are predicted to be responsible for most hydrogen-poor supernovae and also constitute two necessary steps in the formation of neutron stars that merge in gravitational wave events. In addition, because these stripped stars are the exposed cores of their progenitors, they are so hot that most of their radiation is emitted in ionizing wavelengths. This can both affect the appearance of bursty star-forming galaxies and contribute to cosmic reionization. Despite their importance, only one intermediate-mass stripped star has been published to date.
Based on theoretical predictions, we designed an observational search for stars stripped in binaries in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. I will share the first results from this ongoing survey, including the identification and characterization of a first observed sample. Being the exposed helium cores of evolved massive stars, these observed stripped stars offer the opportunity to explore physical processes typically embedded in the deep interiors of massive stars
