Related papers: The Physics of Wind-Fed Accretion
Winds are an important ingredient in the evolution of X-ray binary (XRB) systems, particularly those at high accretion rates such as ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs), because they may regulate the accretion of matter onto the compact…
We present a general procedure for deriving a line profile model for massive star X-ray spectra that captures the dynamics of the wind more directly. The basis of the model is the analytic solution to the problem of variable jets in…
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…
Vela X-1 is an eclipsing high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) consisting of a 283s accreting X-ray pulsar in a close orbit of 8.964 days around the B0.5Ib supergiant HD77581 at a distance of just 2.4 kpc. The system is considered a prototype of…
Hot stars emit large amounts of X-rays, which are assumed to originate in the supersonic stellar wind. Part of the emitted X-rays is subsequently absorbed in the wind and influences its ionization state. Because hot star winds are driven…
Interacting binaries are of general interest as laboratories for investigating the physics of accretion, which gives rise to the bulk of high-energy radiation in the Galaxy. They allow us to probe stellar evolution processes that cannot be…
Because of its complex clumpy wind, prominent cyclotron resonant scattering features, intrinsic variability and convenient physical parameters (close distance, high inclination, small orbital separation) which facilitate the observation and…
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 present a $\sim$130 ks observation of the prototypical wind-accreting, high-mass X-ray binary Vela X-1 collected with XMM-Newton at orbital phases between 0.12 and 0.28. A strong flare took place during the observation that allows us to…
We present a simple analysis of X-ray emission and absorption for hot-star winds, designed to explore the natural scalings of the observed X-ray luminosity with wind and sstellar properties. We show that an exospheric approximation, in…
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…
In high mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs), an accreting compact object orbits a high mass star which loses mass through a dense and inhomogeneous wind. Using the compact object as an X-ray backlight, the time variability of the absorbing column…
Binary systems in which a neutron star or black hole accretes material from a high-mass star are known as high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). This chapter provides a brief introduction to the physics of wind accretion and an observational…
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 have considered the existence of neutron star magnetic field given by the cyclotron lines. We collected the data of 9 sources of high-mass X-ray binaries with supergiant companions as a case of testing our model, to demonstrate their…
The Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton (BHL) accretion model is widely used to describe how a compact object accretes material from a companion's stellar wind in binary systems. However, its standard implementation becomes inaccurate when the wind…
We examine the dependence of the wind-wind collision and subsequent X-ray emission from the massive WR+O star binary WR~22 on the acceleration of the stellar winds, radiative cooling, and orbital motion. Simulations were performed with…
The wind-fed accretion of gas with an intrinsic magnetic field onto neutron stars in high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) is discussed. The criteria for the implementation of quasi-spherical accretion in the system, the formation of a Keplerian…
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…
The early acceleration of stellar winds in massive stars is poorly constrained. The scattering of hard X-ray photons emitted by the pulsar in the high-mass X-ray binary Vela X-1 can be used to probe the stellar wind velocity and density…