Population synthesis for low and intermediate mass binaries

A review of the basic principles of the population synthesis for binary stars is presented. We discuss the break-up of low and intermediate mass close binaries over different evolutionary scenarios and, as an example, briefly consider results of the population synthesis for SN Ia.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, to appear in INTERACTING BINARIES: Accretion, Evolution and Outcomes, AIP, Eds: L. A. Antonelli, L. Burderi, F. D'Antona, T. Di Salvo, G.L. Israel, L. Piersanti, O. Straniero, A. Tornambe

Evolution of Ultramassive Stars

We show that even most massive initial solar composition stars hardly form black holes with mass exceeding about 100 solar mass.Comment: 2 pages, contributed talk at JD05, IAU GA XXVI, Prague, August 2006, a typo in equation remove

Fun for Two

We performed populations synthesis calculations of single stars and binaries and show that binary evolution is extremely important for Galactic astronomy. We review several binary evolution models and conclude that they give quite different results. These differences can be understood from the assumptions related to how mass is transfered in the binary systems. Most important are 1) the fraction of mass that is accreted by the companion star during mass transfer, 2) the amount of specific angular momentum which is carried away with the mass that leaves the binary system.Comment: 7 pages, 0 figures to appear in the proceeding of the IAU Symposium 200, "The Formation of Binary Stars" eds. H. Zinnecker and R. Mathie