Short-Period Binary Stars: Observations, Analyses, and Results

E.F. Milone received a BA from Columbia and his graduate degrees (MS, PhD) in astronomy from Yale University. Since 1971 he has been in the Physics & Astronomy Department of the University of Calgary, helping to shape and direct activities at that university's Rothney Astrophysical Observatory and teaching astronomy and astrophysics courses. He retired from the Directorship in Sept. 2004, and as Professor a year later. Currently he is Professor Emeritus, RAO Director Emeritus, and Faculty Professor in the Physics & Astronomy Department, and continues his observational and analytical research on variable stars, and optical and photometry. He is Vice President of the IAU Commission 25 on Photometry and Polarimetry and Chair of that Commission's Infrared Working Group. D.A. Leahy received a B.Sc. in Coop. Applied Physics from U. Waterloo in 1975 and M.Sc. in 1976 and Ph.D. in 1980 in Theoretical Physics from University of British Columbia. After 2 years as N.R.C. Research Associate in Space Science at NASA's Marshall Space Science Center, he returned to Canada for a 1 year Research Associate at University Calgary before taking a NSERC University Research Fellow/ Assistant Professor position in 1983. Research activities have included observing X-ray binaries and supernova remnants using balloon-borne telescopes, space based telescopes including NASA's X-ray astronomy satellites (HEAO-1, Einstein, RXTE, Chandra), Japanese satellites (GINGA, TENMA, ASCA), European satellites (EXOSAT, ROSAT, XMM-Newton), and several ground based observatories (DRAO, VLA, NOAO's Kitt Peak telescopes, and others). Theoretical work includes studies on black hole evaporation, timing analysis methods, neutron star magnetospheres, accretion flows in binaries, and quantum electrodynamics in strong magnetic fields. D.W. Hobill has degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (B.S. 1971), the University of Calgary (M.Sc -1974) and the University of Victoria (Ph.D. -1980). His postdoctoral work I ncludes a NATO Fellowship at the Institut Henri Poincare in Paris, and positions at Stevens Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois where he later became the head of the numerical relativity group at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.He has been in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary since 1991 where his research interests are in astrophysical applications of general relativity. Specifically his research is in black hole formation. gravitational wave generation from compact objects, gravitational l lensing as a tool for exploring curved space time and anisotropic cosmologies.

• Compact Relativistic Binary Systems.- Black Hole Binaries: The Journey from Astrophysics to Physics.- Searches for Gravitational Waves from Binary Neutron Stars: A Review.- Observations of the Double Pulsar PSR J0737–3039A/B.- Gravitational Lensing in Compact Binary Systems.- Accreting Neutron Star Binaries.- Accreting Neutron Stars in Low-Mass X-Ray Binary Systems.- Observations and Modeling of Accretion Flows in X-ray Binaries.- Cataclysmic Variable Systems.- Modeling the Hot Components in Cataclysmic Variables: Info on the White Dwarf and Hot Disk from GALEX, FUSE, HST and SDSS.- The Cool Components in Cataclysmic Variables: Recent Advances and New Puzzles.- Models for Dynamically Stable Cataclysmic Variable Systems.- Modeling Short-Period Eclipsing Binaries.- Distance Estimation for Eclipsing X-ray Pulsars.- The Tools of the Trade and the Products they Produce: Modeling of Eclipsing Binary Observables.- The Closest of the Close: Observational and Modeling Progress.- Aspects of Short-Period Binary Evolution.- Common Envelope Evolution Redux.