5 papers
Fading into darkness: A weak mass ejection and low-efficiency fallback accompanying black hole formation in M31-2014-DS1
Kishalay De, Morgan MacLeod, Jacob E. Jencson +10
Stellar-mass black holes (BHs) can form from the near-complete collapse of massive stars, causing them to abruptly disappear. The star M31-2014-DS1 in the Andromeda galaxy was repo…
Disappearance of a massive star in the Andromeda Galaxy due to formation of a black hole
Kishalay De, Morgan MacLeod, Jacob E. Jencson +11
When a massive star reaches the end of its lifetime, its core collapses and releases neutrinos that drive a shock into the outer layers (stellar envelope). A sufficiently strong sh…
On the coincidence between the close passage of HD7977 and the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition
Zhuoya Cao, Abraham Loeb, Morgan MacLeod
The Oort Cloud's dynamical evolution is significantly influenced by both the galactic tide and stellar flybys. This study investigates the particular case of HD7977's close encount…
Tidal Amplitudes in the Magellanic Cloud Population of Heartbeat Stars
Morgan MacLeod, Abraham Loeb
Heartbeat (HB) stars exhibit pulses in their light curves once per orbit due to ellipsoidal distortions from strong tides at periapse. We analyze the population of HB stars in the…
Radial Velocity and Astrometric Evidence for a Close Companion to Betelgeuse
Morgan MacLeod, Sarah Blunt, Robert J. De Rosa +10
We examine a century of radial velocity, visual magnitude, and astrometric observations of the nearest red supergiant, Betelgeuse, in order to reexamine the century-old assertion t…