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SUMMARY:Secular dynamics of binaries in stellar clusters - Chris Hamilton
DTSTART:20181023T120000Z
DTEND:20181023T130000Z
UID:TALK112087@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr William Béthune
DESCRIPTION:Binary systems are found everywhere in astrophysics.  If a bin
 ary is completely isolated\, the relative motion of the two bodies describ
 es a Keplerian ellipse which repeats itself indefinitely.  However\, when 
 a binary is perturbed\, its elliptical orbital elements may change with ti
 me.  In particular\, a wide class of perturbations can drive large-amplitu
 de secular oscillations in a binary's eccentricity.  As a result the binar
 y may shrink or even merge\, producing exotic phenomena like hot jupiters\
 , blue stragglers and gravitational wave bursts.  In this talk I will (a) 
 introduce the three-body problem as the archetypal example of a perturbed 
 binary\, (b) describe a new general theory for secular evolution of binari
 es orbiting arbitrary axisymmetric potentials\, and (c) discuss the applic
 ation of the general theory to the problem of compact-object mergers in st
 ellar clusters. 
LOCATION:MR14\,  Centre for Mathematical Sciences\, Wilberforce Road\, Cam
 bridge
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