1995/10/24 by Frederic A. Rasio, Rasio, Frederic A.
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9510125
uuencoded compressed postscript, 10 pages, to appear in Binaries in Clusters, ed. E. Milone (ASP Conf. Series)
arxiv created 1995/10/24 · openalex publication_date 1995/10/24 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The hydrodynamics of stellar collisions and mergers is discussed in the context of blue straggler formation. Emphasis is placed on the very important question of hydrodynamic mixing during the merger process. Recent results of three-dimensional hydrodynamic calculations suggest that the merger remnants produced by stellar collisions are typically \em not\/ well-mixed. However, comparisons between the observed colors and numbers of blue stragglers in dense clusters and the predictions of theoretical calculations for their stellar evolution appear to require that the initial blue-straggler models be close to chemically homogeneous. The resolution of this apparent conflict is likely to involve the development of convection or other thermal instabilitites that can provide efficient mixing during the contraction of the merger remnant to a thermal equilibrium state on the main sequence.