Search Publications
The Evolution of Massive Binary Stars
Marchant, Pablo; Bodensteiner, Julia
Massive stars play a major role in the evolution of their host galaxies and serve as important probes of the distant Universe. It has been established that the majority of massive stars reside in close binaries and interact with their companion stars during their lifetimes. Such interactions drastically alter their life cycles and complicate our u…
Laboratory and Computational Studies of Interstellar Ices
Ioppolo, S.; Linnartz, H.; Cuppen, Herma M.
Ice mantles play a crucial role in shaping the astrochemical inventory of molecules during star and planet formation. Small-scale molecular processes have a profound impact on large-scale astronomical evolution. The areas of solid-state laboratory astrophysics and computational chemistry involve the study of these processes. We review laboratory e…
Atmospheres of Rocky Exoplanets
Kreidberg, Laura; Wordsworth, Robin
Rocky planets are common around other stars, but their atmospheric properties remain largely unconstrained. Thanks to a wealth of recent planet discoveries and upcoming advances in observing capability, we are poised to characterize the atmospheres of dozens of rocky exoplanets in this decade. The theoretical understanding of rocky exoplanet atmos…
Tidal Disruption Events
Gezari, Suvi
The concept of stars being tidally ripped apart and consumed by a massive black hole (MBH) lurking in the center of a galaxy first captivated theorists in the late 1970s. The observational evidence for these rare but illuminating phenomena for probing otherwise dormant MBHs first emerged in archival searches of the soft X-ray ROSAT All-Sky Survey …
Observational Constraints on Black Hole Spin
Reynolds, Christopher S.
The spin of a black hole is an important quantity to study, providing a window into the processes by which a black hole was born and grew. Furthermore, spin can be a potent energy source for powering relativistic jets and energetic particle acceleration. In this review, I describe the techniques currently used to detect and measure the spins of bl…
Exoplanet Statistics and Theoretical Implications
Dong, Subo; Zhu, Wei
In the past few years, significant advances have been made in understanding the distributions of exoplanet populations and the architecture of planetary systems. We review the recent progress of planet statistics, with a focus on the inner ≲1-AU region of planetary systems that has been fairly thoroughly surveyed by the Kepler mission. We also dis…
First Multimessenger Observations of a Neutron Star Merger
Chornock, Ryan; Margutti, Raffaella
We describe the first observations of the same celestial object with gravitational waves and light. GW170817 was the first detection of a neutron star merger with gravitational waves. The detection of a spatially coincident weak burst of gamma-rays (GRB 170817A) 1.7 s after the merger constituted the first electromagnetic detection of a gravitatio…
New Insights into Classical Novae
Chomiuk, Laura; Shen, Ken J.; Metzger, Brian D.
We survey our understanding of classical novae-nonterminal, thermonuclear eruptions on the surfaces of white dwarfs in binary systems. The recent and unexpected discovery of GeV gamma rays from Galactic novae has highlighted the complexity of novae and their value as laboratories for studying shocks and particle acceleration. We review half a cent…
Microarcsecond Astrometry: Science Highlights from Gaia
Brown, Anthony G. A.
Access to microarcsecond astrometry is now routine in the radio, infrared (IR), and optical domains. In particular, the publication of the second data release (Gaia DR2) from the Gaia mission made it possible for every astronomer to work with easily accessible, high-precision astrometry for 1.7 billion sources to twenty-first magnitude over the fu…
The Evolution of the Star-Forming Interstellar Medium Across Cosmic Time
Sternberg, Amiel; Genzel, Reinhard; Tacconi, Linda J.
Over the past decade, increasingly robust estimates of the dense molecular gas content in galaxy populations between redshift z = 0 and the peak of cosmic galaxy/star formation (z ∼ 1-3) have become available. This rapid progress has been possible due to the advent of powerful ground- and space-based telescopes for the combined study of several mi…