Pulsating stars in binary systems : a review

Pulsating stars in binary systems : a review

Binary systems anchor many of the fundamental relations relied upon in asteroseismology. Masses and radii are rarely constrained better than when measured via orbital dynamics and eclipse depths. Pulsating binaries have much to offer. They are clocks, moving in space, that encode orbital motion in the Doppler-shifted pulsation frequencies. They offer twice the opportunity to obtain an asteroseismic age, which is then applicable to both stars. They enable comparative asteroseismology -- the study of two stars by their pulsation properties, whose only fundamental differences are the mass and rotation rates with which they were born. In eccentric binaries, oscillations can be excited tidally, informing our knowledge of tidal dissipation and resonant frequency locking. Eclipsing binaries offer benchmarks against which the asteroseismic scaling relations can be tested. We review these themes in light of both observational and theoretical developments recently made possible by space-based photometry.

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