Related papers: Probing clumpy stellar winds with a neutron-star
We constrain wind parameters of a sample of 18 O-type stars in the LMC, through analysis with stellar atmosphere and wind models including the effects of optically thick clumping. This allows us to determine the most accurate spectroscopic…
Gamma-rays can be produced by the interaction of a relativistic jet and the matter of the stellar wind in the subclass of massive X-ray binaries known as "microquasars". The relativistic jet is ejected from the surroundings of the compact…
We describe here the nature, formation and evolution of the supergiant high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) population, i.e. systems accreting the stellar wind of supergiant stars. There are now many new observations, from the high-energy side…
IGR J18027-2016 is an obscured high-mass X-ray binary formed by a neutron star accreting from the wind of a supergiant companion with a $\sim$4.57 day orbital period. The source shows an asymmetric eclipse profile that remained stable…
We have developed a stellar wind model for OB supergiants to investigate the effects of accretion from a clumpy wind on the luminosity and variability properties of High Mass X-ray Binaries. Assuming that the clumps are confined by ram…
Features and applications of quasi-spherical settling accretion onto rotating magnetized neutron stars in high-mass X-ray binaries are discussed. The settling accretion occurs in wind-fed HMXBs when the plasma cooling time is longer than…
We present a new model of the population of symbiotic X-ray binaries (SyXBs) that takes into account non-stationary character of quasi-spherical sub-sonic accretion of the red giant's stellar wind onto slowly rotating neutron stars. Updates…
We have developed a clumpy stellar wind model for OB supergiants in order to compare predictions of this model with the X-ray behaviour of both classes of persistent and transient High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs).
We investigate the characteristics of bright flares for a sample of supergiant fast X-ray transients and their relation to the orbital phase. We have retrieved all Swift/BAT Transient Monitor light curves, and collected all detections in…
IGR J18483-0311 is an X-ray pulsar with transient X-ray activity, belonging to the new class of High Mass X-ray Binaries called Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients. This system is one of the two members of this class, together with IGR…
IGR J16479-4514 is a Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient (SFXT), a new class of High Mass X-ray Binaries, whose number is rapidly growing thanks to the observations of the Galactic plane performed with the INTEGRAL satellite. IGR J16479-4514…
High-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) are exceptional astrophysical laboratories that offer a rare glimpse into the physical processes that govern accretion on compact objects, massive-star winds, and stellar evolution. In a subset of the HMXBs,…
The stellar winds of the massive stars in high-mass microquasars are thought to be inhomogeneous. The interaction of these inhomogeneities, or clumps, with the jets of these objects may be a major factor in gamma-ray production. Our goal is…
Classical Supergiant X-ray Binaries (SGXBs) and Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXTs) are two types of High-mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) that present similar donors but, at the same time, show very different behavior in the X-rays. The…
INTEGRAL played a key role in discovering obscured sgHMXB in the Galaxy. We used XMM-Newton to perform X-ray wind tomography of a specific of these systems, IGR J17252-3616, featuring eclipses of the accreting pulsar. The X-ray band (0.2-10…
High Mass X-ray Binary Pulsars (HMXBP), in which the companion star is a source of supersonic stellar wind, provide a laboratory to probe the velocity and density profile of such winds. Here, we have measured the variation of the absorption…
Magnetically confined winds of early-type stars are expected to be sources of bright and hard X-rays. To clarify the systematics of the observed X-ray properties, we have analyzed a large series of Chandra and XMM observations,…
Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXT) are a sub-class of High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXB) in which a compact object accretes part of the clumpy wind of the blue supergiant companion, triggering a series of brief, X-ray flares lasting a few…
Hinge clumps are luminous knots of star formation near the base of tidal features in some interacting galaxies. We use archival Hubble Space Telescope UV/optical/IR images and Chandra X-ray maps along with GALEX UV, Spitzer IR, and…
[Abridged] Clumping in the radiation-driven winds of hot, massive stars affects the derivation of synthetic observables across the electromagnetic spectrum. We implement a formalism for treating wind clumping - in particular the…