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Pulsations and Precision: Why Binary Stars Are the Building Blocks of Stellar Astrophysics

Kelly Hambleton, PhD

The field of asteroseismology is advancing at an astounding rate, thanks to precise photometry from satellites such as Kepler and CoRoT. For many stars, it is now possible to obtain fundamental stellar masses and radii along with rotational profiles and ages based primarily on empirical asteroseismic formulæ. In complement, the field of binary star physics has long been viewed as the cornerstone of astrophysics, providing direct measurements of fundamental stellar parameters and giving insight into the evolution of stars. In this talk we examine each field individually, from the basics to cutting edge science; following which we will look at what happens when we combine these two diverse fields. Specifically, we will focus on tidally driven pulsations: pulsations caused by gravitational interactions between the binary components, and the use of pulsating stars in binary systems to validate the results of asteroseismology.

Dr. Kelly Hambleton is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Science at Villanova University. Her research concentrates on precision measurements of binary stars using ground- and space-based instruments.Her PhD is from the University of Central Lancashire in the UK.