Related papers: Ultra-compact X-ray binaries with high luminosity:…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) represent the closest and most accessible laboratories to study sustained super-Eddington accretion onto compact objects. Over the past decade, the discoveries of coherent pulsations in a few ULXs has…
Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients are obviously related to persistent Supergiant X-ray Binaries. Any convincing explanation for their behaviour must consistently take into account all types of X-ray sources powered by wind accretion. Here we…
In this chapter we give an overview of the properties of X-ray binary systems containing a weakly magnetized neutron star. These are old (Giga-years life-time) semi-detached binary systems containing a neutron star with a relatively weak…
We have analyzed all archival RXTE/PCA monitoring observations of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) M82 X-1 in order to study the properties of its 62 day X-ray period (Kaaret & Feng 2007). Based on its high coherence it has been argued…
We know from observations that globular clusters are very efficient catalysts in forming unusual short-period binary systems or their offspring, such as low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs; neutron stars accreting matter from low-mass stellar…
A new type of high-energy binary systems has been revealed by the INTEGRAL satellite. These sources are in the course of being unveiled by means of multi-wavelength optical, near- and mid-infrared observations. Among these sources, two…
This review summarizes the observational constraints on the mass spectrum of compact objects in X-ray binaries. We currently have 20 X-ray binaries with confirmed black holes, based on dynamical information (i.e. mass in excess of 3 Msun).…
While the distribution of spin periods of High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) spans more than four orders of magnitude (69ms - 25min), the few known X-ray pulsars accreting from very low mass companions (<1 Msun) have very similar periods…
X-rays trace accretion onto compact objects in binaries with low mass companions at rates ranging up to near Eddington. Accretion at high rates onto neutron stars goes through cycles with time-scales of days to months. At lower average…
The determination of fundamental parameters in X-ray luminous (persistent) X-ray binaries has been classically hampered by the large optical luminosity of the accretion disc. New methods, based on irradiation of the donor star and burst…
Ultraluminous X-ray bursts (hereafter ULXBs) are ultraluminous X-ray flares with a fast rise ($\sim$ one minute) and a slow decay ($\sim$ an hour), which are commonly observed in extragalactic globular clusters. Most ULXBs are observational…
Long-term X-ray modulations on timescales from tens to hundreds of days have been widely studied for X-ray binaries located in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. For other nearby galaxies, only the most luminous X-ray sources can be…
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…
Using a sample of two hundred luminous (L_unabs>10^38 erg/s, where L_unabs is the unabsorbed 0.25-8 keV luminosity) high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) candidates found with Chandra in 27 nearby galaxies, we have constructed the collective X-ray…
A new type of high-energy binary system has been revealed by the INTEGRAL satellite. These sources are being unveiled by means of multi-wavelength optical, near- and mid-infrared observations. Among these sources, two distinct classes are…
We present two simultaneous NICER and NuSTAR observations of the ultra-compact X-ray binary (UCXB) candidate SLX 1735-269 while the source was in two different spectral states. Using various reflection modeling techniques, we find that…
We show that black-hole High-Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) with O- or B-type donor stars and relatively short orbital periods, of order one week to several months may survive spiral in, to then form Wolf-Rayet (WR) X-ray binaries with orbital…
Optical outburst spectra of low-mass X-ray binaries enable studies of extreme accretion and ejection phenomena. While some of their spectroscopic features have been analysed in detail, the appearance of broad absorptions in the optical…
In this paper we survey the theory of wind accretion in high mass X-ray binaries hosting a magnetic neutron star and a supergiant companion. We concentrate on the different types of interaction between the inflowing wind matter and the…
Massive X-ray binaries are usually classified depending on the properties of the donor star in classical, supergiant and Be X-ray binaries. The massive X-ray binary 4U 2206+54 does not fit in any of these groups, and deserves a detailed…