Physics Colloquium - Friday, February 26th, 2010, 3:00 P.M.

Douglas Gies
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Georgia State University

Most of the massive stars are born with a nearby stellar companion, and in many cases the twins will interact and share mass and angular momentum over their lifetimes. In this presentation, I will review how these processes are observed in massive binary stars from youth to old age. I will highlight how high angular resolution observations with the GSU CHARA Array interferometer are revealing the consequences of mass transfer and loss mechanisms in binaries.