An Introduction to Close Binary Stars

Binary systems of stars are as common as single stars. This original text provides a pedagogical and comprehensive introduction to binary stars. The author combines theory and observations at all wavelengths to develop a unified understanding of binaries of all categories. Chapters review methods for calculating orbits, the Roche model, ideas about mass exchange and loss, methods for analyzing light curves, the masses and dimensions of different binary systems, and imaging the surfaces of stars and accretion structures. This volume offers advanced undergraduate and graduate students a thorough introduction to binary stars that will aid their learning of stellar astrophysics, stellar structure and evolution, and observational astrophysics.

Binaries are common--half the stars you see in the night sky have companions. They are of fundamental importance because they allow stellar masses, radii and luminosities to be measured directly, and explain X-ray binaries, cataclysmic variables, novae, and a host of other exciting phenomena. This textbook is the first to provide a pedagogical and comprehensive introduction to binary stars. It combines theory and observations at all wavelengths to develop a unified understanding of all types of binaries. This textbook provides advanced students with a thorough introduction to binary stars and a lucid companion for courses on stellar astrophysics, stellar structure and evolution, and observational astrophysics.