Field blue straggler stars and related mass transfer issues

George W. Preston (Carnegie Observatories, USA)
 

I view field blue straggler stars (FBS) through the prism of an ageing observer. This chapter contains my 
impressions and perspectives about the current state of knowledge about FBS stars, drawn from an 
extensive literature that I searched. It is not possible to construct a sensible story about blue straggler stars 
in the Galactic field without reference to their occurrence in globular clusters where they were first identified, 
or in Milky Way satellites where they are now being discovered. I have tried to minimise discussion of these 
topics, which are treated at length elsewhere in this book. I include discussions of theoretical work (with 
diffidence) only when such work has an immediate impact on the interpretation of observations.