Related papers: Going out with a bang: compact object collisions r…
Recent observations suggest that gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and their afterglows are produced by highly relativistic jets emitted in core collapse supernova explosions (SNe). The result of the event, probably, is not just a compact object plus…
Neutron stars receive velocity kicks at birth in supernovae. Those formed in electron-capture supernovae from super asymptotic giant branch stars -- the lowest mass stars to end their lives in supernovae -- may receive significantly lower…
The disruption of a binary star system by the massive black hole at the Galactic Centre, SgrA*, can lead to the capture of one star around SgrA* and the ejection of its companion as a hypervelocity star (HVS). We consider the possibility…
This paper reviews the current understanding of double neutron star and neutron star black hole binaries. It addresses mainly (nuclear) astrophysics aspects of compact binary mergers and thus complements recent reviews that have emphasized…
Classical nova explosions and type I X-ray bursts are the most frequent types of thermonuclear stellar explosions in the Galaxy. Both phenomena arise from thermonuclear ignition in the envelopes of accreting compact objects in close binary…
We investigate whether stellar-mass black holes have to receive natal kicks in order to explain the observed distribution of low-mass X-ray binaries containing black holes within our Galaxy. Such binaries are the product of binary…
The outbursts of black hole X-ray transients can be understood as caused by a limit cycle instability in the accretion disk, similar to dwarf nova outbursts. For adequately low mass overflow rates from the companion star long outburst…
Supernovae descendent from massive stars explode in media that have been modified by their progenitors' mass loss and UV radiation. The supernova ejecta will first interact with the circumstellar material shed by the progenitors at late…
Short Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are explosions of cosmic origin believed to be associated with the merger of two compact objects, either two neutron stars, or a neutron star and a black hole. The presence of at least one neutron star has long…
Very massive stars are radiation pressure dominated. Before running out of viable nuclear fuel, they can reach a thermodynamic state where electron-positron pair-production robs them of radiation support, triggering their collapse.…
Using twenty long-term 3D core-collapse supernova simulations, we find that lower compactness progenitors that explode quasi-spherically due to the short delay to explosion experience smaller neutron star recoil kicks in the $\sim$100$-$200…
Physical collisions between stars occur frequently in dense star clusters, either via close encounters between two single stars, or during strong dynamical interactions involving binary stars. Here we study stellar collisions that occur…
The mergers of black hole-neutron star binaries are calcuated using a pseudo-general relativistic potential that incorporates ${\mathcal O}(v^2/c^2)^3$ post-Newtonian corrections. Both normal matter neutron stars and self-bound strange…
Observations of binary pulsars and pulsars in globular clusters suggest that at least some pulsars must receive weak natal kicks at birth. If all pulsars received strong natal kicks above \unit[50]{\kms}, those born in globular clusters…
The hypervelocity stars recently found in the Galactic halo are expelled from the Galactic center through interactions between binary stars and the central massive black hole or between single stars and a hypothetical massive binary black…
Improved observations of globular clusters are uncovering a large number of radio pulsars and of X-ray sources. The latter include binaries in which a neutron star or a white dwarf accretes matter from a companion, recycled pulsars, and…
Be stars are rapidly spinning B stars surrounded by an outflowing disc of gas in Keplerian rotation. Be star/X-ray binary systems contain a Be star and a neutron star. They are found to have non-zero eccentricities and there is evidence…
The evolution of close-orbit progenitor binaries of double neutron star (DNS) systems leads to supernova (SN) explosions of ultra-stripped stars. The amount of SN ejecta mass is very limited from such, more or less, naked metal cores with…
The collision of a primordial black hole with a neutron star results in the black hole eventually consuming the entire neutron star. However, if the black hole is magnetically charged, and therefore stable against decay by Hawking…
In contrast to the field, the binaries in dense stellar systems are frequently not primordial, and could be either dynamically formed or significantly altered from their primordial states. Destruction and formation of binaries occur in…