Related papers: Probing clumpy stellar winds with a neutron-star
Observations of the high energy sky, mainly with the INTEGRAL satellite, have raised new questions about the formation and evolution of High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs). The number of detected HMXBs of different types is now high enough to…
The eclipsing hard X-ray source IGR J16479-4514 is the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient (SFXT) with the shortest orbital period (3.32 days). This allowed us to perform a 250 ks long X-ray observation with Suzaku in 2012 February, covering…
We present an analysis of the first observation of the iconic High Mass X-ray Binary \so with the \chandra High Energy Transmission Gratings during an X-ray eclipse. The goal of the observation was to study the structure/physical conditions…
Our goal is to understand the specificities of highly absorbed sgHMXB and in particular of the companion stellar wind, thought to be responsible for the strong absorption. We have monitored IGR J17252-3616, a highly absorbed system…
In a high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) a massive star interacts with a neutron-star or black-hole companion in various ways. The gravitational interaction enables the measurement of fundamental parameters such as the mass of both binary…
We present the results of a 30ks XMM-Newton observation of the supergiant fast X-ray transient (SFXT) SAX J1818.6-1703 - the first in-depth soft X-ray study of this source around periastron. INTEGRAL observations shortly before and after…
Recent results strongly challenge the canonical picture of massive star winds: various evidence indicates that currently accepted mass-loss rates, Mdot, may need to be revised downwards significantly. This is because the most commonly used…
Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXTs) are a sub-class of High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) associated with OB supergiant companions and displaying transient X-ray activity. This behaviour is quite surprising since HMXBs hosting…
We propose a new model of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) based on stellar mass black hole-massive star binaries. We argue that the inhomogeneity of the circumstellar materials or/and the time varying wind activities of the stellar companion will…
The low luminosity, X-ray flaring activity, of the sub-class of high mass X-ray binaries called Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients, has been investigated using XMM-Newton public observations, taking advantage of the products made publicly…
SAX J1818.6-1703 is a flaring transient X-ray source serendipitously discovered by BeppoSAX in 1998 during an observation of the Galactic centre. The source was identified as a High-Mass X-ray Binary with an OB SuperGiant companion.…
Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXT) are a class of High-Mass X-ray Binaries whose optical counterparts are O or B supergiant stars, and whose X-ray outbursts are ~ 4 orders of magnitude brighter than the quiescent state. LOFT, the Large…
Neutron stars in high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) generally accrete from the wind matter of their massive companion stars. Recently Shakura et al. (2012) suggested a subsonic accretion model for low-luminosity ($<4\times 10^{36}$…
We report on a 250 ks long X-ray observation of the supergiant fast X-ray transient (SFXT) IGR J16479-4514 performed with Suzaku in 2012 February. About 80% of the short orbital period (Porb=3.32 days) was covered as continuously as…
Mass loss rates for the tenuous, hot winds of cool stars are extremely difficult to measure, yet they are a crucial ingredient in the stars' rotational evolution. We present a new method for measuring these mass loss rates in young,…
We constructed the cumulative luminosity distributions of most supergiant fast X-ray transients (SFXTs) and the classical supergiant X-ray binary (SgXB) IGR J18027-2016 by taking advantage of the long term monitoring of these sources…
The topic of wind-clumping has been the subject of much activity in recent years, due to the impact that it can have on derived mass-loss rates. Here we present an alternative method of investigating wind-clumping, that of polarimetry. We…
We have performed an extensive hydrodynamical parameter study of starburst-driven galactic winds, motivated by the latest observation data on the best-studied starburst galaxy M82. We study how the wind dynamics, morphology and X-ray…
We report on the results of an XMM-Newton observation of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient (SFXT) IGR J08408-4503 performed in June 2020. The source is composed by a compact object (likely a neutron star) orbiting around an O8.5Ib-II(f)p…
We present a comparative study of stellar winds in classical supergiant high mass X-ray binaries (SgXBs) and supergiant fast X-ray transients (SFXTs) based on the analysis of publicly available out-of-eclipse observations performed with…