Creator: Anusha Bansal
Medium: Performing Arts
Original Music: Sandhya Sivakumar
Performers: Claire Katz-Mariani and Cristina Schlesier
Description: A creative interpretation of a binary star merger shown through movement, music, and dialogue contemplating the cyclical nature of life and having meaning in death.
The Science: Many stars in the universe are in binary systems. In some of these binary systems, there is a mass transfer stream – which, if unstable, can lead to a common-envelope. The two stars then spiral in towards each other, and if they are not able to build up enough orbital speed, and the common envelope isn’t ejected, then they continue moving closer until they eventually merge into one star. Taking this idea further, that resulting star collapses into a black hole. Eventually, another star enters into a binary system with the black hole. More information about Binary Systems can be found here:
“Accretion in Binary Systems and Stellar Outbursts”
“LIGO Detects a Neutron Star Merger”
The Process: I knew from the beginning that I wanted to explore a space related topic. In my research about stars and black holes, I came across some articles about binary stars and was immediately drawn to that topic. Once I started viewing the stars as characters, I knew I wanted to do a performance piece because I think it shows a stronger connection between the stars. I worked with Sandhya, who wrote original music depicting the events and this music and the dialogue emphasize the connection and the emotion in the piece.