Thorne-Żytkow objects

Interacting binary star systems play a critical role in many areas of astrophysics. One interesting example of a binary merger product are Thorne-Żytkow Objects (TŻOs), stars that look like red supergiants but contain neutron stars at their cores. TŻOs were theorized nearly five decades ago, and significant work has gone into understanding the physics of their formation, evolution, and stability. Several searches for TŻO candidates have also been carried out. Whether or not TŻOs could even exist or if they would be stable after formation has also been investigated. Understanding the existence and possible prevalence of TŻOs would have important effects on our understanding of binary evolution, stellar mergers, and inform binary population synthesis models. In this chapter, we review the formation channels, evolution and structure, final fates, and observable signatures of TŻOs, as well as candidates in the literature, from the inception of TŻO theory to recent progress in the field.