Observational studies of Stripped red giant cores

Dr Maxted has recently used the SuperWASP archive to discover a new class of eclipsing binary star in which an apparently normal star eclipses the exposed core of a red giant star. These binaries offer the opportunity to study in detail the disruption of red giant stars and the formation of very low mass white dwarfs, and so better understand the formation of milli-second pulsars and stellar collisions in the cores of globular clusters.

The PhD will focus on the characterisation of newly discovered systems using observational data from a wide variety of telescopes and satellites. There will opportunities for the student to participate in the observations of the new systems and to collaborate with researchers world-wide. Successful PhD students will learn a wide range of observational techniques that are widely applicable to many areas of stellar and planetary astrophysics.