Related papers: Astrometric observations of X-ray binaries using v…

Since it was theorized by Kerr in 1963, determining the spin of black holes from observed data was paid very little attention until few years back. The main reasons behind this were the unavailability of adequate data and the lack of…

In addition to constructing a Galactic matter mass function free from the bias induced by the hydrogen-burning limit, gravitational microlensing allows one to construct a mass function which is less affected by the problem of unresolved…

X-ray binaries, as bright local sources with short variability timescales for a wide range of accretion processes, represent ideal targets for high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. In this chapter, we present a high-resolution X-ray spectral…

The characteristic and distinctive features of the visibility amplitude of interferometric observations for compact objects like stars in the immediate vicinity of the central black hole in our Galaxy are considered. These features are…

Unlike traditional electromagnetic measurements, gravitational-wave observations are not affected by crowding and extinction. For this reason, compact object binaries orbiting around a massive black hole can be used as probes of the inner…

The characteristics of black-hole X-ray binaries can be used to obtain information about their evolutionary history and the process of black-hole formation. In this paper I focus on systems with donor masses lower than the inferred…

Black holes of stellar mass and neutron stars in binary systems are first detected as hard X-ray sources using high-energy space telescopes. Relativistic jets in some of these compact sources are found by means of multiwavelength…

Binary systems of massive black holes will be detectable by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) throughout the entire Universe. Observations of gravitational waves from this class of sources will have important repercussions on…

A brief overview is given of the observations of accretion disks in X-ray binaries, discussing their geometry, their effect on the rotation period of the accreting object, their optical and X-ray spectra, time variability, and radio…

Gravitational-wave observations are playing an instrumental role in understanding the population of binary compact objects in the Universe. These observations have begun to hint at the mass distribution of binary black holes (BBHs), with…

Recently, the accretion geometry of the black-hole X-ray binary Cyg X-1 was probed with the X-ray polarization. The position angle of the X-ray emitting flow was found to be aligned with the position angle of the radio jet in the plane of…

The number of publications of aperture-synthesis images based on optical long-baseline interferometry measurements has recently increased due to easier access to visible and infrared interferometers. The interferometry technique has now…

The spin of a black hole (BH) encodes information about its formation and evolution history. Yet the understanding of the distribution of BH spins in X-ray binaries (XBs), of the models used to measure spin, and of their impact on…

Context. The precise determinations of stellar mass at $\sim$1% provide important constraints on stellar evolution models. Accurate parallax measurements can also serve as independent benchmarks for the next Gaia data release. Aims. We aim…

This dissertation elaborates on X-ray polarisation features of astrophysical environments near accreting black holes. Although the work was originally assigned to supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei, the results are also…

We consider LISA observations of in-spiral signals emitted by massive black hole binary systems in circular orbit and with negligible spins. We study the accuracy with which the source parameters can be extracted from the data stream. We…

Using the adaptive optics facilities at the 200-in Hale and 10-m Keck II, we observed in the near infrared a sample of 12 binary and multiple stars and one open cluster. We used the near diffraction limited images of these systems to…

The theory of General Relativity has successfully passed a large number of observational tests. The theory has been extensively tested in the weak-field regime with experiments in the Solar System and observations of binary pulsars.…

The theory of General Relativity has successfully passed a large number of observational tests. The theory has been extensively tested in the weak-field regime with experiments in the Solar System and observations of binary pulsars. The…

Long-baseline interferometry at infrared wavelengths allows the innermost regions around young stars to be observed. These observations directly probe the location of the dust and gas in the disks. The characteristic sizes of these regions…