The existence of blue straggler stars, which appear younger, hotter, and more massive than their siblings, is at odds with a simple picture of stellar evolution. Such stars should have exhausted their nuclear fuel and evolved long ago to become cooling white dwarfs. They are found to exist in globular clusters, open clusters, dwarf spheroidal galaxies of the Local Group, OB associations and as field stars.
This book summarises the many advances in observational and theoretical work dedicated to blue straggler stars. Carefully edited extended contributions by well-known experts in the field cover all the relevant aspects of blue straggler stars research: Observations of blue straggler stars in their various environments; Binary stars and formation channels; Dynamics of globular clusters; Interpretation of observational data and comparison with models. The book also offers an introductory chapter on stellar evolution written by the editors of the book.
Author(s): Henri M. J. Boffin, Giovanni Carraro, Giacomo Beccari (eds.)
Series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library 413
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Year: 2015
Language: English
Pages: 349
Tags: Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Front Matter....Pages i-xix
Introduction to the Theory of Stellar Evolution....Pages 1-16
Blue Straggler Stars: Early Observations That Failed to Solve the Problem....Pages 17-28
The Blue Stragglers of the Old Open Cluster NGC 188....Pages 29-63
Field Blue Stragglers and Related Mass Transfer Issues....Pages 65-98
Blue Straggler Stars in Globular Clusters: A Powerful Tool to Probe the Internal Dynamical Evolution of Stellar Systems....Pages 99-127
The Blue Straggler Population in Dwarf Galaxies....Pages 129-152
Mass Transfer by Stellar Wind....Pages 153-178
Binary Evolution: Roche Lobe Overflow and Blue Stragglers....Pages 179-202
Formation Channels for Blue Straggler Stars....Pages 203-223
Dynamical Processes in Globular Clusters....Pages 225-249
The Multiple Origin of Blue Straggler Stars: Theory vs. Observations....Pages 251-275
Models of Individual Blue Stragglers....Pages 277-294
Blue Stragglers in Globular Clusters: Observations, Statistics and Physics....Pages 295-316
Blue Stragglers in Clusters and Integrated Spectral Properties of Stellar Populations....Pages 317-342
Back Matter....Pages 343-349
