Related papers: HZ Her: Stellar Radius from X-ray Eclipse Observat…
Fast rotation is responsible for important changes in the structure and evolution of stars. Optical long baseline interferometry now permits the study of its effects on the stellar surface, mainly gravity darkening and flattening. We aim to…
\alpha^1 Her is the second closest Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) star to the Sun, and the variable luminous M5 Ib-II member of a triple stellar system containing G8 III and A9 IV-V components. However, the mass of this important star was…
We present results of the analysis of data collected in 57-ks XMM-Newton and 505-ks Chandra observations of the nearby ~= 120 pc isolated neutron star RX J1856.5-3754. We confirm most of the statements made by Burwitz et al. (2001) who…
The physical properties of transiting exoplanets are connected with the physical properties of their host stars. We present a homogeneous spectroscopic analysis based on spectra of FGK-type stars observed with the Hydra spectrograph on the…
In this work, we investigate the impact of the possibility of a small, subsolar mass compact star, such as the recently reported central compact object of HESS J1731-347, on the equation of state (EOS) of neutron stars. We have used a…
RX J1856.5-3754 is one of the brightest, nearby isolated neutron stars, and considerable observational resources have been devoted to its study. In previous work, we found that our latest models of a magnetic, hydrogen atmosphere matches…
We report extensive photometric and spectroscopic observations of the 6.1-day period, G+M-type detached double-lined eclipsing binary V530 Ori, an important new benchmark system for testing stellar evolution models for low-mass stars. We…
A major open question in exoplanet research is whether secondary atmospheres are rare around Earth-sized rocky exoplanets. In this work we determine the distance at which an Earth-sized planet orbiting a variety of stellar hosts could…
Observations of Hercules X-1 by the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) covering low state and the early part of the Short High state are reported here. This is the first EUV observation of this part of the 35-day cycle of Her X-1. The low…
The effects of rotation on stellar evolution are particularly important at low metallicity, when mass loss by stellar winds diminishes and the surface enrichment due to rotational mixing becomes relatively more pronounced than at high…
We present photometry of four transits of the planetary system HAT-P-13, obtained using defocussed telescopes. We analyse these, plus nine datasets from the literature, in order to determine the physical properties of the system. The mass…
RX J1856.5-3754, a bright soft X-ray source believed to be the nearest thermally emitting neutron star, has commanded and continues to command intense interest from X-ray missions. One of the main goals is to determine the radius of this…
We present Keck spectroscopic measurements of the millisecond pulsar binary J2215+5135. These data indicate a neutron-star (NS) mass M_NS=1.6Mo, much less than previously estimated. The pulsar heats the companion face to T_D~9000K; the…
The composition of the outer 100 m of a neutron star sets the heat flux that flows outwards from the core. For an accreting neutron star in an X-ray transient, the thermal quiescent flux depends sensitively on the amount of hydrogen and…
The evolution of helium stars with masses of 1.5 - 6.7 M_sun in binary systems with a 1.4 M_sun neutron-star companion is presented. Such systems are assumed to be the remnants of Be/X-ray binaries with B-star masses in the range of 8 - 20…
(Abridged) We present spectroscopic and photometric observations of the eclipsing system V1061 Cyg (P = 2.35 days). We show that it is a hierarchical triple in which the third star is visible in the spectra. We combine the radial velocities…
We present Spitzer 8 micron transit observations of the extrasolar planet system HD 149026. At this wavelength, transit light curves are weakly affected by stellar limb-darkening, allowing for a simpler and more accurate determination of…
The UV emission lines of Hercules X-1, resolved with the HST GHRS and STIS, can be divided into broad (FWHM 750 km/s) and narrow (FWHM 150 km/s) components. The broad lines can be unambiguously identified with emission from an accretion…
We present analysis of extensive monitoring of SS433 by the RXTE observatory collected over the period 1996-2005. The difference between energy spectra taken at different precessional and orbital phases shows the presence of a strong…
Measurements of neutron star masses and radii are instrumental for determining the equation of state of their interiors, understanding the dividing line between neutron stars and black holes, and for obtaining accurate statistics of source…