Related papers: Theory of wind accretion
Vela X-1 is the archetype of high-mass X-ray binaries, composed of a neutron star and a massive B supergiant. The supergiant is a source of a strong radiatively-driven stellar wind. The neutron star sweeps up this wind, and creates a huge…
We calculate the X-ray emission from the shocked fast wind blown by the central stars of planetary nebulae (PNs) and compare with observations. Using spherically symmetric self similar solutions, we calculate the flow structure and X-ray…
We carried out two dimensional high-resolution magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of an accretion disk around a weakly magnetized neutron star. General relativistic effects are taken into account by using pseudo-Newtonian potential of…
A major uncertainty in the structure and dynamics of magnetized, radiation pressure dominated neutron star accretion columns in X-ray pulsars and pulsating ultraluminous X-ray sources is that they are thought to be subject to the photon…
We use global magnetohydrodynamic simulations to study the influence of net vertical magnetic fields on the structure of geometrically thin ($H/r \approx 0.05$) accretion disks in the Newtonian limit. We consider initial mid-plane gas to…
We numerically investigate the hydrodynamics of accretion disk reversal and relate our findings to the observed spin-rate changes in the accreting X-ray pulsar GX~1+4. In this system, which accretes from a slow wind, the accretion disk…
Recently, several accreting neutron stars (NSs) in X-ray binary systems inside supernova remnants have been discovered. They represent a puzzle for the standard magneto-rotational evolution of NSs, as their ages ($\lesssim 10^5$ years) are…
Disk accretion onto a weakly magnetized central object, e.g. a star, is inevitably accompanied by the formation of a boundary layer near the surface, in which matter slows down from the highly supersonic orbital velocity of the disk to the…
Accreting neutron stars can power a wide range of astrophysical phenomena including short- and long-duration gamma-ray bursts, ultra-luminous X-ray sources, and X-ray binaries. Numerical simulations are a valuable tool for studying the…
Supergiant fast X-ray transients (SFXTs) are characterized by a remarkable variability in the X-ray domain, widely ascribed to the accretion from a clumpy stellar wind. In this paper we performed a systematic and homogeneous analysis of…
Recently discovered quasi periodic oscillations in the X-ray brightness of low mass X-ray binaries are used to derive constraints on the mass of the neutron star component and the equation of state of neutron star matter. The observations…
We consider the astrophysical constraints on the gravitational-wave driven r-mode instability in accreting neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries. We use recent results on superfluid and superconducting properties to infer the core…
The stellar wind around the compact object in luminous wind-accreting high mass X-ray binaries is expected to be strongly ionized with the X-rays coming from the compact object. The stellar wind of hot stars is mostly driven by light…
We present an analysis of X-ray and ultra-violet data of the dwarf nova VW Hyi that were obtained with XMM-Newton during the quiescent state. The X-ray spectrum indicates the presence of an optically thin plasma in the boundary layer that…
Spherical (nonrotating) accretion flows with small-scale magnetic fields have been investigated using three-dimensional, time-dependent MHD simulations. These simulations have been designed to model high-resolution (quasi) steady accretion…
We present results of 3D simulations of MHD instabilities at the accretion disk-magnetosphere boundary. The instability is Rayleigh-Taylor, and develops for a fairly broad range of accretion rates and stellar rotation rates and magnetic…
Based on new Chandra X-ray telescope data, we present empirical evidence of plasma Compton cooling during a flare in the non pulsating massive X-ray binary 4U1700-37. This behaviour might be explained by quasispherical accretion onto a…
X-ray polarimetry is a fine tool to probe the accretion geometry and physical processes operating in the proximity of compact objects, black holes and neutron stars. Recent discoveries made by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer put our…
We discuss properties of the ultra-luminous $X$-ray source in the galaxy M82, NuSTAR J095551+6940.8, containing an accreting neutron star. The neutron star has surface magnetic field $ B_{NS} \approx 1.4 \times 10^{13 } \, {\rm G}$ and…
Disk accretion onto weakly magnetized objects possessing a material surface must proceed via the so-called boundary layer (BL) - a region at the inner edge of the disk, in which the velocity of accreting material abruptly decreases from its…