Galactic globular clusters are old, dense star systems typically containing 10^4 – 10^6 stars. As an old population of stars, globular clusters contain many collapsed and degenerate objects. As a dense population of stars, globular clusters are the scene of many interesting close dynamical interactions between stars. These dynamical interactions can alter the evolution of individual stars and can produce tight binary systems containing one or two compact objects. In this review, we discuss theoretical models of globular cluster evolution and binary evolution, techniques for simulating this evolution that leads to relativistic binaries, and current and possible future observational evidence for this population. Our discussion of globular cluster evolution will focus on the processes that boost the production of tight binary systems and the subsequent interaction of these binaries that can alter the properties of both bodies and can lead to exotic objects. Direct N-body integrations and Fokker–Planck simulations of the evolution of globular clusters that incorporate tidal interactions and lead to predictions of relativistic binary populations are also discussed. We discuss the current observational evidence for cataclysmic variables, millisecond pulsars, and low-mass X-ray binaries as well as possible future detection of relativistic binaries with gravitational radiation.
Keywords: Binary systems, Pulsars, Gravitational wave sources, Globular clusters, Accretion disks, Black holes
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Since a Living Reviews in Relativity article may evolve over time, please cite the access <date>, which uniquely identifies the version of the article you are referring to:
Matthew J. Benacquista and Jonathan M. B. Downing,
"Relativistic Binaries in Globular Clusters",
Living Rev. Relativity 16, (2013), 4. URL (cited on <date>):
http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2013-4
ORIGINAL | http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2002-2 |
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Title | Relativistic Binaries in Globular Clusters |
Author | Matthew J. Benacquista |
Date | accepted 28 January 2002, published 20 February 2002 |
FAST-TRACK REVISION | |
Date | accepted , published 5 December 2003 |
Changes | Section 5.3.3: Correction of typographical error.
For detailed description see
here
.
|
UPDATE | http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2006-2 |
Title | Relativistic Binaries in Globular Clusters |
Author | Matthew J. Benacquista |
Date | accepted 9 January 2006, published 7 February 2006 |
Changes | Minor revisions to Sections 1, 2, and 4.
Substantial additions to Sections 3 (to incorporate new observations) and 5 (to include new population synthesis models). Added roughly 60 new references. |
FAST-TRACK REVISION | |
Date | accepted 30 June 2008, published 30 June 2008 |
Changes | Added 16 new references and latest observations.
For detailed description see
here
.
RefDB records no longer cited by this article:
RefDB records now cited by this article: |
UPDATE | http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2013-4 |
Title | Relativistic Binaries in Globular Clusters |
Author | Matthew J. Benacquista / Jonathan M. B. Downing |
Date | accepted 29 November 2012, published 4 March 2013 |
Changes | Substantial revision of most sections. Addition of Jonathan Downing as co-author. Number of references increased from 247 to 495. |