Related papers: Astrometric observations of X-ray binaries using v…
The spin of a black hole retains the memory of how the black hole grew, and can be a potent source of energy for powering relativistic jets. To understand the diagnostic power and astrophysical significance of black hole spin, however, we…
Knowledge of the orbits of visual binary stars has always been one of the fundamentals of astronomy. Based historically on the visual measures, nowadays the orbits rely more (or exclusively) on the accurate speckle data. This prompts…
Strong winds from massive stars are a topic of interest to a wide range of astrophysical fields. In High-Mass X-ray Binaries the presence of an accreting compact object on the one side allows to infer wind parameters from studies of the…
In this paper, we review the various ways in which an infrared stellar interferometer can be used to perform direct detection of extrasolar planetary systems. We first review the techniques based on classical stellar interferometry, where…
This set of lectures is an introduction to black-hole astrophysics. The emphasis is made on the phenomenology of X-ray binaries and of supermassive compact objects at galactic centers.
We review the timing and spectral evolution of black hole X-ray binary systems, with emphasis on the current accretion-ejection paradigm. When in outburst, stellar mass black hole binaries may become the brightest X-ray sources in the sky.…
We develop a method for identifying a compact object in binary systems with astrometric measurements and apply it to some binaries. Compact objects in some high-mass X-ray binaries and gamma-ray binaries are unknown, which is responsible…
Some of the theoretical challenges posed by the general relativistic description of binary systems of compact objects (neutron stars or black holes) are reviewed. We recall the various ways one can use the theory of the motion, and of the…
In black hole X-ray binaries, a misalignment between the spin axis of the black hole and the orbital angular momentum can occur during the supernova explosion that forms the compact object. In this letter we present population synthesis…
Recent X-ray observations have had a major impact on topics ranging from protostars to cosmology. They have also drawn attention to important and general physical processes that currently limit our understanding of thermal and nonthermal…
Over the course of several years, stars trace helical trajectories as they traverse across the sky due to the combined effects of proper motion and parallax. It is well known that the gravitational pull of an unseen companion can cause…
X-ray binaries provide exceptional laboratories for understanding the physics of matter under the most extreme conditions. Until recently, there were few, if any, observational constraints on the circumbinary environments of X-ray binaries…
Stationary axisymmetric binary systems of unequal counterrotating Kerr-Newman sources with a massless strut in between are studied. By means of the choice of a suitable parametrization, the axis conditions and the absence of individual…
Future X-ray instrumentation is expected to allow us to significantly improve the constraints derivedfrom the Fe K lines in AGN, such as the black-hole angular momentum (spin) and the inclination angle of the putative accretion disk. We…
Special and general relativistic effects on the X-ray emissions, especially the continuum spectra, from the accretion disks around black holes are investigated using the ray-tracing method. Because both the special and general relativistic…
Thanks to extensive observations with X-ray missions and facilities working in other wavelengths, as well as rapidly--advancing numerical simulations of accretion flows, our knowledge of astrophysical black holes has been remarkably…
We show that under certain astrophysical conditions a binary system consisting of two compact objects can be stabilized against indefinite shrinking of orbits due to the emission of gravitational radiation. In this case, the lighter binary…
Light passing near a black hole can follow multiple paths from an emission source to an observer due to strong gravitational lensing. Photons following different paths take different amounts of time to reach the observer, which produces an…
We investigate the feasibility of detecting quiescent black hole X-ray binaries using optical photometric techniques. To test this we employ a combination of r-band and Halpha filters currently available at the Roque de los Muchachos…
Binary interactions are commonplace among massive stars, giving rise observed phenomena such as X-ray binaries, stripped stars & supernovae, and gravitational-wave sources. The multiplicity properties of massive stars thus represent a…