Related papers: Transient outburst mechanisms in Supergiant Fast X…
In the past few years, a new class of High Mass X-Ray Binaries (HMXRB) has been claimed to exist, the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXT). These are X-ray binary systems with a compact companion orbiting a supergiant star which show…
Astrophysical jets seem to occur in nearly all types of accreting objects: from supermassive black holes to young stellar objects. Based on X-ray binaries, a unified scenario describing the disc/jet coupling has evolved and extended to many…
Soft X-ray Transients (SXRTs) have long been suspected to contain old, weakly magnetic neutron stars that have been spun up by accretion torques. After reviewing their observational properties, we analyse the different regimes that likely…
For the first time, Swift is giving us the opportunity to study supergiant fast X-ray transients (SFXTs) throughout all phases of their life: outbursts, intermediate level, and quiescence. We present our intense monitoring of four SFXTs,…
In recent years, searches of archival X-ray data have revealed galaxies exhibiting nuclear quasi-periodic eruptions with periods of several hours. These are reminiscent of the tidal disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole, and the…
Previous generations of X-ray observatories revealed a group of massive binaries that were relatively bright X-ray emitters. This was attributed to emission of shock-heated plasma in the wind-wind interaction zone located between the stars.…
Several binary systems have been detected at High Energy (HE, E > 100 MeV) and/or Very High Energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma rays. Some of them are X-ray binaries in which accretion feeds relativistic radio jets and powers the non-thermal…
We present two years of intense Swift monitoring of three SFXTs, IGR J16479-4514, XTE J1739-302, and IGR J17544-2619 (since October 2007). Out-of-outburst intensity-based X-ray (0.3-10keV) spectroscopy yields absorbed power laws with by…
We have performed a statistical study of the properties of 110 bright X-ray outbursts in 36 low-mass X-ray binary transients (LMXBTs) seen with the All-Sky Monitor (2--12 keV) on board the {\it Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer} ({\it RXTE}) in…
Context: Some high mass X-ray binaries (HMXB) have been recently confirmed as gamma-ray sources by ground based Cherenkov telescopes. In this work, we discuss the gamma-ray emission from X-ray transient sources formed by a Be star and a…
All disc-accreting astrophysical objects produce powerful outflows. In binaries containing neutron stars (NS) or black holes, accretion often takes place during violent outbursts. The main disc wind signatures during these eruptions are…
We review X-ray properties of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients following from their observations with INTEGRAL and show that a compact object in these systems is a neutron star with strong magnetic field accreting from the stellar wind…
Many X-ray binaries are transiently accreting. Having statistics on their recurrence times is helpful to address questions related to binary evolution and populations, as well as the physics of binary systems. We compile a catalog of known…
The outbursts of low mass X-ray binaries are prolonged relative to those of dwarf nova cataclysmic variables as a consequence of X-ray irradiation of the disc. We show that the time-scale of the decay light curve and its luminosity at a…
We report on the Swift monitoring of the candidate supergiant fast X-ray transient (SFXT) IGR J16418-4532, for which both orbital and spin periods are known (~3.7d and ~1250s, respectively). Our observations, for a total of ~43ks, span over…
It has been suggested that most Be/X-ray binaries are low X-ray luminosity nearby objects, containing white dwarfs (Chevalier & Ilovaisky 1998). We show that existing evidence indicates that all known Be/X-ray binaries are relatively bright…
MAXI J1807+132 is an X-ray transient discovered during the decay of an outburst in 2017. We present optical and X-ray monitoring of the source over more than 125 days, from outburst to quiescence. The outburst decay is characterized by the…
Supernova remnants have long been suggested as a class of potential counterparts to unidentified gamma-ray sources. The mechanisms by which such gamma-rays can arise may include emission from a pulsar associated with a remnant, or a variety…
The accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of a white dwarf in a binary with a nondegenerate companion can sometimes lead to the formation of a rapidly rotating and highly magnetized neutron star (NS). The spin-down of this NS can drive a…
X-ray transience is the most extreme form of variability observed in AGN or normal non-active galaxies. While factors of 2-3 on timescales of days to years are quite common among AGN, X-ray transients appear only once and vanish from the…