Companion-driven evolution of massive stellar binaries

Understand

At least $70\%$ of massive OBA-type stars reside in binary or higher-order systems.

• The dynamical evolution of these systems can lend insight into the origins of extreme phenomena such as X-ray binaries and gravitational wave sources.
• In one such dynamical process, the Eccentric Kozai-Lidov (EKL) Mechanism, a third companion star alters the secular evolution of a binary system.
• For dynamical stability, these triple systems must have a hierarchical configuration.