Related papers: Cataclysmic Variables: Eight Breakthroughs in Eigh…
Gravitational-wave detections are enabling measurements of the rate of coalescences of binaries composed of two compact objects -- neutron stars and/or black holes. The coalescence rate of binaries containing neutron stars is further…
We have used a model of magnetic accretion to investigate the accretion flows of magnetic cataclysmic variables. Numerical simulations demonstrate that four types of flow are possible: discs, streams, rings and propellers. The fundamental…
We review infrared (1-2.5 microns) observations of cataclysmic variables, a relatively unexplored part of the spectrum in which the dominant sources of emission are the secondary star, the outer regions of the accretion disc and the…
Planetary nebulae are traditionally considered to represent the final evolutionary stage of all intermediate-mass stars ($\sim$0.7-8Msol). Recent evidence seems to contradict this picture. In particular, since the launch of the Hubble Space…
We present an observational and theoretical review of the winds of cataclysmic variables (CVs). Specifically, we consider the related problems of the geometry, ionization state, and mass-loss rate of the winds of CVs. We present evidence of…
The majority of all stars are members of a binary system. The evolution of such binary stars and their subsequent production of pairs of compact objects in tight orbits, such as double neutron stars and double black holes, play a central…
The fluctuating brightness of cosmic X-ray sources, particularly accreting black holes and neutron star systems, has enabled enormous progress in understanding the physics of turbulent accretion flows, the behaviour of matter on the…
Binary stars produce an array of dramatic astrophysical phenomena. They allow us to probe stellar structure, nuclear physics, and gravitational wave physics. They also produce the powerful supernovae that allow us to measure the scale of…
I review what we know about the donor stars in cataclysmic variables (CVs), focusing particularly on the close link between these binary components and the overall secular evolution of CVs. I begin with a brief overview of the "standard…
SW Sextantis stars are a class of cataclysmic variables originally defined via certain peculiar properties that they all have in common. In this article, I review our knowledge of these stars and show the way from a phenomenological…
Cataclysmic variables were long considered to be close binaries consisting of a white dwarf and a Roche-lobe-filling, near-zero-age main-sequence (ZAMS) red or brown dwarf. Recent massive surveys have uncovered an increasing number of…
This is a personal review of various issues related to massive photometric and astrometric searches. A complete inventory of variable stars down to almost any magnitude limit will improve our understanding of the stellar evolution and the…
In this paper, I present and discuss some recent observational results which may have important implications for our understanding of late phases of binary evolution.
Neutron stars in X-ray binary systems are fascinating objects that display a wide range of timing and spectral phenomena in the X-rays. Not only parameters of the neutron stars, like magnetic field strength and spin period evolve in their…
During this last decade our knowledge of the evolutionary properties of stars has significantly improved. This result has been achieved thanks to our improved understanding of the physical behavior of stellar matter in the thermal regimes…
Large differences between the properties of the known sample of cataclysmic variable stars (CVs) and the predictions of the theory of binary star evolution have long been recognised. However, because all existing CV samples suffer from…
Our current understanding of the physical processes of star formation is reviewed, with emphasis on processes occurring in molecular clouds like those observed nearby. The dense cores of these clouds are predicted to undergo gravitational…
Ultraluminous X-ray binaries have challenged our assumptions of extreme accretion rates in X-ray binaries, and impact other subfields of astronomy, such as cosmology, gravitational wave sources and supernov{\ae}. Our understanding of ULXs…
Thanks to their usefulness in various fields of astrophysics (e.g. mixing processes in stars, chemical evolution of galaxies), the last few years have witnessed a large increase in the amount of abundance data for early-type stars. Two…
Cataclysmic variable stars are in many ways similar to X-ray binaries. Both types of systems possess an accretion disk, which in most cases can reach the surface (or event horizon) of the central compact object. The main difference is that…