Related papers: On burning regimes and long duration X-ray bursts
The observed thermal relaxation of transiently accreting neutron stars during quiescence periods in low-mass X-ray binaries suggests the existence of unknown heat sources in the shallow layers of neutron-star crust. Making use of existing…
I summarize some constraints on the physics of neutron stars arising from X-ray observations of the surfaces of neutron stars, focusing on using models of low-magnetic-field neutron star atmospheres to interpret their X-ray spectra. I…
Type I X-ray bursts are rapidly brightening phenomena triggered by thermonuclear burning on accreting layer of a neutron star (NS). The light curves represent the physical properties of NSs and the nuclear reactions on the proton-rich…
The neutron star X-ray binary, EXO 0748--676, was observed regularly by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and XMM-Newton during its first detected outburst (1985 - 2008). These observations captured hundreds of asymmetric,…
Observations of thermonuclear (Type I) X-ray bursts from neutron stars in low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB) with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) have revealed large amplitude, high coherence X-ray brightness oscillations with…
Material accreted onto a neutron star can stably burn in steady state only when the accretion rate is high (typically super-Eddington) or if a large flux from the neutron star crust permeates the outer atmosphere. For such situations we…
Relativistic jets are observed from accreting and cataclysmic transients throughout the Universe, and have a profound affect on their surroundings. Despite their importance, their launch mechanism is not known. For accreting neutron stars,…
NICER observed two outbursts from the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary 4U~1730$-$22 in 2021 and 2022, which showed a similar spectral evolution in the hardness-intensity diagram. Seventeen type I X-ray bursts were identified in both…
The properties of starbursts in ultraluminous infrared galaxies are discussed, with particular emphasis on the fueling, the amount of extinction and the intrinsic properties of the nuclear starbursts. It is shown by the example of NGC6240…
We present a global linear stability analysis of nuclear fuel accumulating on the surface of an accreting neutron star and we identify the conditions under which thermonuclear bursts are triggered. The analysis reproduces all the recognized…
We discuss three classes of x-ray transients to highlight three new types of transients found with the Wide Field Cameras onboard BeppoSAX. First there are the transients related to Low Mass X-ray Binaries in outburst, typically lasting…
The rotation rates of six weakly-magnetic neutron stars accreting in low-mass X-ray binaries have most likely been measured by Type I X-ray burst observations with RXTE. The nearly coherent oscillations detected during the few seconds of…
Swift J1749.4-2807 is the only known eclipsing accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar. In this paper, we report on 7 thermonuclear (Type-I) X-ray bursts observed by NICER during its 2021 outburst. The first 6 bursts show slow rises and long…
Type-I X-ray burst light curves encode unique information about the structure of accreting neutron stars and the nuclear reaction rates of the rp-process that powers bursts. Using the first model calculations of hydrogen/helium burning…
We report the detection of 15 X-ray bursts with RXTE and Swift observations of the peculiar X-ray binary Circinus X-1 during its May 2010 X-ray re-brightening. These are the first X-ray bursts observed from the source after the initial…
We present a study of weak, thermonuclear X-ray bursts from the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1808.4-3658. We focus on a burst observed with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer on 2019 August 9, and describe a similar…
We analyze the global hydrodynamic flow in the ocean of an accreting, rapidly rotating, non-magnetic neutron star in an LMXB during a type I X-ray burst. Our analysis takes into account the rapid rotation of the star and the lift-up of the…
We review the nuclear astrophysics aspects of accreting neutron stars in X-ray binaries. We summarize open astrophysical questions in light of recent observations and their relation to the underlying nuclear physics. Recent progress in the…
Thermonuclear runaway burning of carbon is in rare cases observed from accreting neutron stars as day-long X-ray flares called superbursts. In the few cases where the onset is observed, superbursts exhibit a short precursor burst at the…
The X-ray burster GS 1826-24 shows extremely regular Type I X-ray bursts whose energetics and recurrence times agree well with thermonuclear ignition models. We present calculations of sequences of burst lightcurves using multizone models…