Ongoing and Post-Mass-Transfer Binaries: A Living Catalog and Unified Review of Binary Mass Transfer Products

Abstract

Mass transfer is arguably the most defining interaction in binary stellar systems, yet many aspects of its physics remain poorly understood, from stability to endpoints and observable products. Comparing theory and observations is challenging because post-mass-transfer systems are studied across largely independent communities with different methods, nomenclature, and evolutionary frameworks. % We present a unified review and catalog of ongoing and post-mass-transfer binaries spanning the full stellar mass range, but restricted to systems likely to have experienced only a single episode of mass transfer (i.e., only one component is evolved). We review 16 observational classes of binary interaction products and compile a curated sample of 5,452 systems into a publicly available, community-driven catalog at https://binary-observations.github.io/post_mt_catalog/. % Using this catalog, we investigate global trends in orbital periods, eccentricities, masses, and mass ratios across post-mass-transfer binaries. We find I) non-zero eccentricities are common at all periods and system classes, with both median values and scatter increasing with period, II) the $e(\log P)$ relation depends on donor progenitor mass, with neutron-star and black-hole binaries showing the highest median eccentricities, likely reflecting effects of natal kicks, III) period distributions are broad and overlapping across evolutionary channels, and IV) the Gaia BH and NS systems are extreme in mass ratio but otherwise consistent with the general post-mass-transfer population. Together, these results support a unified empirical view of post-mass-transfer binaries that highlights several tensions between theory and observations.