The Working Group on Active B Stars (WGABS, formerly Working Group on Be Stars) was re-established under IAU Commission No. 29 in 1979 to promote and stimulate research and international collaboration in the field of active B stars. The focus of the WGABS has increasingly shifted from Be stars to all types of active B stars including topics such as mass loss and accretion, pulsations, rotation, magnetic fields, and binarity, X-ray phenomena, fundamental parameters, and to promote collaboration and interaction between scientists specializing in these studies.
The WGABS is open to all researchers interested in the field. Currently there are 121 members of WG Active B stars under Division G Stars and Stellar Physics. Over the last decade, active B-type stars have emerged as laboratories for the examination of phenomena with a broad range of astrophysical applicability. The Keplerian decretion disks of classical Be stars are ideal test-beds for disk physics, insights from which can be applied to protoplantery disks and black hole accretion disks. Similarly, the magnetospheres of magnetic B-type stars share broad similarities with those of planets and ultracool dwarfs, making them ideal laboratories due to the relative ease with which they can be observed and characterized.
Organizing Commitee (elected in September 2022)
Chair: Yael Nazé (ynaze@uliege.be)
Vice-Chairs: Alex C. Carciofi (alexcarciofi@gmail.com) and Mary Oksala (moksala@callutheran.edu)
Executive members: Dominic Bowman (dominic.bowman@newcastle.ac.uk), Robin Corbet (corbet@umbc.edu), Alexandre David-Uraz (adu@udel.edu), Robert Klement (robertklement@gmail.com), and Petr Kurfurst (petrk@physics.muni.cz)
Previous Chair: Carol Jones (cejones@uwo.ca)