Description:

In astrophysics, there are many scenarios in which a gaseous disk accretes onto a binary system.  Two major examples are stellar binaries in their natal protostellar disk, and supermassive black hole binaries accreting at the cores of galaxies.  At its core, this constitutes a seemingly basic and well-posed hydrodyanamics problem, but there have been many surprises that have recently come out of theoretical studies of these systems.  I will discuss some of the latest research on binary accretion, and what it tells us about binary systems and their accretion disks, and what predictions we can make for GAIA population studies, gravitational wave signatures from pulsar timing arrays, and quasar variability.

Paul Duffell, Assistant Professor, Purdue University 

Host: Jason Wang