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The chemical evolution of the Universe is governed by the nucleosynthesis contribution from stars, which in turn is determined primarily by the initial stellar mass. In this talk I want to focus on one key outstanding question related to stellar nucleosynthesis and chemical enrichment: the problem of binary stars. We know that most stars in the Universe have a gravitationally bound companion but this is not reflected in the stellar yields used as input into most models of Galactic chemical evolution. Type Ia supernovae are historically the one exception because these explosions can only happen in a binary system. Nowadays we also need to consider neutron star mergers as a source of heavy r-process elements. How else can binary evolution affect stellar evolution and the resultant stellar yields? I discuss results from new binary population synthesis models of accreting white dwarfs and discuss new projects which will examine the effect of binary evolution on the advanced evolutionary phases of low and intermediate-mass stars. |
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