Related papers: Testing the rotating hot spot model using X-ray bu…
We analysed all archival data of the low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1636--53 with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (1490 observations). We found a total of 336 type-I X-ray bursts from this source. In the time-resolved spectra of 69 of these…
Observations of Type I X-ray bursts have long been taken as evidence that the sources are neutron stars. Black body models approximate the spectral data and imply a suddenly heated neutron star cooling over characteristic times of seconds…
I review the basic phenomenology and theory of the millisecond brightness oscillations observed during thermonuclear X-ray bursts from 13 of approximately 70 accreting neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries. Compelling observations…
Type I X-ray bursts and superbursts on neutron stars release sudden and intense radiation fields into their surroundings. Here, we consider the possible effects of these powerful explosions on the structure of the accretion disk. The goal…
Rossby waves (or r-modes) on the surface of a neutron star have become a leading model for the oscillations observed during the tail of Type-I X-ray bursts. Their frequency evolution matches well with the observed frequency drifts of the…
We analyzed 123 thermonuclear (type-I) X-ray bursts observed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer from the low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1636-536. All but two of the 40 radius-exansion bursts in this sample reached peak fluxes which were normally…
Aims. INTEGRAL has been monitoring the Galactic center region for more than a decade. Over this time INTEGRAL has detected hundreds of type-I X-ray bursts from the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1728-34, a.k.a. "the slow burster".…
High amplitude X-ray brightness oscillations during thermonuclear X-ray bursts were discovered with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) in early 1996. Spectral and timing evidence strongly supports the conclusion that these oscillations…
Thermal emission during X-ray bursts is a powerful tool to determine neutron star masses and radii, if the Eddington flux and the apparent radius in the cooling tail can be measured accurately, and distances to the sources are known. We…
Powerful Type I X-ray burst with strong radial expansion was observed from the low mass X-ray binary 4U 1820-30 with Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer on May 2, 1997. We investigate closely the flux profile during the burst expansion stage.…
I review our theoretical understanding of thermonuclear flashes on accreting neutron stars, concentrating on comparisons to observations. Sequences of regular Type I X-ray bursts from GS 1826-24 and 4U 1820-30 are very well described by the…
Modelling the coherent pulsations observed during thermonuclear bursts offers a valuable method to probe the poorly understood equation of state of dense and cold matter. Here we apply the pulse profile modelling technique to the pulsations…
Thermonuclear burning on the surface of a neutron star causes the expansion of a thin outer layer of the star, $\Delta R(t)$. The layer rotates slower than the star due to angular momentum conservation. The shear between the star and the…
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…
Precision measurements of neutron star radii can provide a powerful probe of the properties of cold matter beyond nuclear density. Beginning in the late 1970s it was proposed that the radius could be obtained from the apparent or inferred…
We explore, using an exact cooling code, the thermal evolution of a neutron star undergoing episodes of intense accretion, alternated by long periods of quiescence (e.g. Soft X-Ray Transients). We find that the soft component of the…
The cooling of type-I X-ray bursts can be used to probe the nuclear burning conditions in neutron star envelopes. The flux decay of the bursts has been traditionally modelled with an exponential, even if theoretical considerations predict…
We analyze the frequency evolution of millisecond oscillations observed during type I X-ray bursts with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer in order to establish the stability of the mechanism underlying the oscillations. Our sample contains 68…
The masses and radii of low-magnetic field neutron stars can be measured by combining different observable quantities obtained from their X-ray spectra during thermonuclear X-ray bursts. One of these quantities is the apparent radius of…
Accreting neutron stars (NS) can exhibit high-frequency modulations, known as burst oscillations, in their lightcurves during thermonuclear X-ray bursts. Their frequencies can be offset from the spin frequency of the NS (known…