090042

We propose to survey the complete Galactic sample of confirmed massive binaryBe+sdO stars. We aim to probe the models which predicts that a significantfraction of Be-type stars have hot companions which were stripped of hydrogen bya mass exchange. These hot stripped companions with sdO spectral types drivestellar winds which collide and interact with the Be star winds and disks andhence have unique signatures in their X-ray emission. The proposed survey willestablish X-ray properties of Be+sdO binaries as needed to discriminate themfrom general OB star populations. The first X-ray survey of Be+sdO binarieswill serve as important test on the physics of post-interaction binary stars andprovide critically important input to binary population synthesis models. [truncated! Please see actual data for full text]