Related papers: Stability of helium accretion discs in ultracompac…
A short review of ultra-compact binaries, focused on ultra-compact X-ray binaries, is followed by a discussion of recent results of our VLT campaign to obtain optical spectra of (candidate) ultra-compact X-ray binaries. We find evidence for…
In this paper we discuss the spin-equilibrium of accreting neutron stars in LMXBs. We demonstrate that, when combined with a naive spin-up torque, the observed data leads to inferred magnetic fields which are at variance with those of…
We discuss two important instability mechanisms that may lead to the limit-cycle oscillations of the luminosity of the accretion disks around compact objects: ionization instability and radiation-pressure instability. Ionization instability…
The non-axisymmetric structure of accretion disks around the neutron star in Be/X-ray binaries is studied by analyzing the results from three dimensional (3D) Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations. It is found that ram pressure…
Periodic pulsations have been found in emission from the ultra-luminous X-ray source (ULX) M82 X-2, strongly suggesting that the emitter is a rotating neutron star rather than a black hole. However, the radiation mechanisms and accretion…
We present the results of our monitoring program to study the long-term variability of the Halpha line in high-mass X-ray binaries. We have carried out the most complete optical spectroscopic study of the global properties of high-mass…
The UV emission from X-ray binaries, is more likely to be produced by reprocessing of X-rays by the outer regions of an accretion disk. The structure of the outer disk may be altered due to the presence of X-ray irradiation and we discuss…
In this study, we examine 51 archival NICER observations and 6 archival NuSTAR observations of the neutron star (NS) ultra-compact X-ray binary (UCXB) 4U 0614+091, which span over 5 years. The source displays persistent reflection features,…
Ultra-compact X-ray binaries (UCXBs) are low-mass X-ray binaries with hydrogen-deficient mass-donors and ultra-short orbital periods. They have been suggested to be the potential Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) sources in the…
We study accretion onto the neutron star in Be/X-ray binaries, using a 3D SPH code and the data imported from a high resolution simulation by Okazaki et al.\ (2002) for a coplanar system with a short period ($P_{\rm orb}=24.3 \rm d$) and…
We numerically study the long-term evolution of the accretion disc around the neutron star in a coplanar Be/X-ray binary with a short period and a moderate eccentricity. From three dimensional Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics simulations, we…
We consider the formation of low-mass X-ray binaries containing accreting neutron stars via the helium-star supernova channel. The predicted relative number of short-period transients provides a sensitive test of the input physics in this…
Strongly magnetized, accreting neutron stars show periodic and aperiodic variability over a wide range of time scales. By obtaining spectral and timing information on these different time scales, we can have a closer look into the physics…
The X-ray light-curves of the recurring outbursts observed in low-mass X-ray binaries provide strong test beds for constraining (still) poorly understood disc-accretion processes. These light-curves act as a powerful diagnostic to probe the…
We calculate the accretion disc temperature profiles, disc luminosities and boundary layer luminosities for rapidly rotating neutron stars considering the full effect of general relativity. We compare the theoretical values of these…
Observations of the black hole and neutron star X-ray binaries show that the luminosity of the hard-to-soft state transition is usually higher than that of the soft-to-hard state transition, indicating additional parameters other than the…
We present a new scenario for the behaviour of Be/X-ray binaries based on long-term multiwavelength monitoring and the decretion disc model. The circumstellar discs of the primaries are truncated because of the tidal and resonant effect of…
We investigate the behaviour of the accretion discs in the outbursts of the low-mass black-hole X-ray binaries (BHXRB), an overview of which we have presented previously. Almost all of the systems in which there are sufficient observations…
We study the formation of ultra-compact binaries (AM CVn stars and ultra-compact X-ray binaries) with emphasis on the surface chemical abundances of the donors in these systems. Hydrogen is not convincingly detected in the spectra of these…
We study the formation of neon-enriched donor stars in ultracompact X-ray binaries (orbital periods P<80 min) and show that their progenitors have to be low-mass (0.3 - 0.4 solar mass) ``hybrid'' white dwarfs (with CO cores and thick helium…