Related papers: Broad-band variability in accreting compact object…
X-rays produced by compact flares co-rotating with a Keplerian accretion disc are modulated in time by Doppler effects. We improve on previous calculations of these effects by considering recent models of intrinsic X-ray variability, and…
Standard shot-noise models, which seek to explain the broadband noise variability that characterises the X-ray lightcurves of X-ray binaries and active galaxies, predict that the power spectrum of the X-ray lightcurve is stationary (i.e.…
Among hard X-ray galactic sources detected by INTEGRAL and Swift surveys, those discovered as accreting white dwarfs have surprisingly boosted in number, representing 20% of the galactic sample. The majority are identified as magnetic…
This paper surveys our current knowledge of the hard X-ray emission properties of old accreting neutron stars in low mass X-ray binaries. Hard X-ray components extending up to energies of a few hundred keV have been clearly detected in…
We have recently demonstrated that the non-linear relation between ultraviolet and X-ray luminosity in quasars is very tight (with an intrinsic dispersion of ~0.2 dex), once contaminants (e.g. dust reddening, X-ray absorption), variability,…
Stellar companion of a black hole orbiting in an eccentric orbit will experience modulating tidal force with a periodicity same as that of the orbital period. This, in turn, would modulate accretion rates, and the seed photon flux which are…
We perform high-resolution, grid-based hydrodynamics simulations of gaseous rings viscously spreading into disks around equal-mass, circular binaries. We find that all systems suppress accretion onto the binary when the gas is relatively…
The diverse behaviors displayed by X-ray binaries make it difficult to determine the nature of the underlying compact objects. In particular, identification of systems containing black holes is currently considered robust only if a…
Time-resolved optical and infrared polarimetric observations of black hole and neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries are presented. Data were acquired with the VLT, UKIRT and HIPPO on the SAAO 1.9-m. We find that for some sources in…
The determination of fundamental parameters in X-ray luminous (persistent) X-ray binaries has been classically hampered by the large optical luminosity of the accretion disc. New methods, based on irradiation of the donor star and burst…
Very faint X-ray binaries appear to be transient in many cases with peak luminosities much fainter than that of usual soft X-ray transients, but their nature still remains elusive. We investigate the possibility that this transient…
We have investigated the influence of X-ray irradiation on the vertical structure of the outer accretion disk in low-mass X-ray binaries by performing a self-consistent calculation of the vertical structure and X-ray radiation transfer in…
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…
The last few years have seen tremendous progress in our understanding of cataclysmic variable stars. As a result, we are finally developing a much clearer picture of their evolution as binary systems, the physics of the accretion processes…
Recurring outbursts associated with matter flowing onto compact stellar remnants (black-holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs) in close binary systems, provide strong test beds for constraining the poorly understood accretion process. The…
We report the first results of the Chandra temporal monitoring of the ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in the Antennae galaxies (NGC 4038/39). Observations at four different epochs, covering time scales of 2 years to 2 months, show…
The response of advection-dominated accretion disks to local disturbances is examined by one-dimensional numerical simulations. It is generally believed that advection-dominated disks are thermally stable. We, however, find that any…
High-mass X-ray binaries are fundamental in the study of stellar evolution, nucleosynthesis, structure and evolution of galaxies and accretion processes. Hard X-rays observations by INTEGRAL and Swift have broad- ened significantly our…
Microlensing perturbations to the flux ratios of gravitationally lensed quasar images can vary with wavelength because of the chromatic dependence of the accretion disk's apparent size. Multiwavelength observations of microlensed quasars…
The possibility that some of the observed X-ray and optical variability in active galactic nuclei and galactic black hole candidates is produced in accretion disks through the development of a self-organized critical state is reconsidered.…