Post common envelope binaries: Laboratories for binary, stellar and planetary science
Abstract:
Around a quarter of all binary systems are born close enough that the two stars will interact with each other at some point during their evolution. Very often this leads to a common envelope phase, where the more massive star engulfs its companion once it evolves off the main-sequence. Common envelope evolution gives birth to very close binaries and is thought to lead to the creation of some of the Galaxy’s most exotic objects, such as cataclysmic variables, low-mass X-ray binaries, double degenerates, short gamma ray burst and and millisecond pulsars. By far the most frequent outcome of common envelope evolution is a close binary consisting of a white dwarf with a low-mass stellar companion. In this talk I will show how we can use these binaries to refine theories of common envelope evolution, constrain the pathways to thermonuclear supernovae, test models of stellar structure and hunt for planets around white dwarf binaries.
Career summary:
I obtained my undergraduate degree in Physics with Astrophysics from the University of Kent in 2008, followed by a PhD at the University of Warwick. In 2012 I moved to the Universidad de Valparaiso in Chile for a post doc. After one year in Chile I was awarded a Chilean FONDECYT fellowship which I finished in 2016. I then moved to the University of Sheffield as an early career Leverhulme fellow. As of this year I am now an Earnest Rutherford fellow at the University of Sheffield