Search for Contracting Close Binaries

Extract

The selection of close binaries which compose the usual tabulations of solutions has informed us in detail on main sequence stellar atmospheric and interior parameters, and on the theories of the tidal and radiative interactions, and has permitted the creation of the theory of binary evolution. As we have seen, the eruptive doubles are beginning to yield to modern instrumentation. Adding more pairs to those already „understood“ will bring continuity into our appreciations of these processes and undoubtedly change them sowewhat. The origins of close pairs, however, remain obscure and one can only say that the theories which describe fission of a proto-star after its core de-couples from the envelope seem promising. The latest presentation of this idea by BODENHEIMER and OSTRIKER (1970) can be viewed as the successor to the indicative theories of ROXBURGH (1966) and CAMERON (1969). In this way of looking at binary origins it is simply a question of when fission occurred in the proto-stellar interval. Observationally, candidate stars are anything but numerous and it is for this reason that we have begun the program described here.