Evolution of binary stars and its implications for evolutionary
  population synthesis
  Most stars are members of binaries, and the evolution of a star in a close
binary system differs from that of an ioslated star due to the proximity of its
companion star. The components in a binary system interact in many ways and
binary evolution leads to the formation of many peculiar stars, including blue
stragglers and hot subdwarfs. We will discuss binary evolution and the
formation of blue stragglers and hot subdwarfs, and show that those hot objects
are important in the study of evolutionary population synthesis (EPS), and
conclude that binary interactions should be included in the study of EPS.
Indeed, binary interactions make a stellar population younger (hotter), and the
far-ultraviolet (UV) excess in elliptical galaxies is shown to be most likely
resulted from binary interactions. This has major implications for
understanding the evolution of the far-UV excess and elliptical galaxies in
general. In particular, it implies that the far-UV excess is not a sign of age,
as had been postulated prviously and predicts that it should not be strongly
dependent on the metallicity of the population, but exists universally from
dwarf ellipticals to giant ellipticals.
