Related papers: Classifying X-ray Binaries: A Probabilistic Approa…
X-ray Binaries (XRBs) consist of a compact object that accretes material from an orbiting secondary star. The most secure method we have for determining if the compact object is a black hole is to determine its mass: this is limited to…
A common question about compact objects in high energy astrophysics is whether it is possible to distinguish black hole from neutron star systems with some other property that is not the mass of the compact object. Up to now a few…
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…
X-ray binaries exhibit a wide range of properties but there are few accepted methods to determine the nature of the compact object. Color-Color-Intensity diagrams have been suggested as a means of distinguishing between systems containing…
Galactic accretion driven stellar X-ray sources can be divided into groups in different ways. An important division, which covers almost all known X-ray binaries, can be made according to the mass of the donor star: high-mass X-ray binaries…
A small group of X-ray binaries currently provides the best evidence for the existence of stellar-mass black holes. These objects are interacting binary systems where the X-rays arise from accretion of material onto a compact object (i.e.…
X-ray binaries are binary star systems in which a compact object (a neutron star or a black hole) and a relatively normal star orbit a common centre of mass. Since the discovery of X-ray binaries with the first X-ray telescopes in the…
X-ray binary systems consist of a companion star and a compact object in close orbit. Thanks to their copious X-ray emission, these objects have been studied in detail using X-ray spectroscopy and timing. The inclination of these systems is…
This review summarizes the observational constraints on the mass spectrum of compact objects in X-ray binaries. We currently have 20 X-ray binaries with confirmed black holes, based on dynamical information (i.e. mass in excess of 3 Msun).…
A large fraction of X-ray sources in our Galaxy are low-mass X-ray binaries, containing a black hole or a neutron star accreting from a gravitationally bound low-mass ($\leq$1 M$_\odot$) companion star. These systems are among the older…
X-ray binaries are excellent laboratories to study collapsed objects. On the one hand, transient X-ray binaries contain the best examples of stellar-mass black holes while persistent X-ray binaries mostly harbour accreting neutron stars.…
We perform the classification of black hole and neutron star X-ray binary systems using deep neural networks applied to archival RXTE X-ray spectral data. We first construct two neural network models: one trained using only spectral flux…
Low Mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) are binary systems where one of the components is either a black hole or a neutron star and the other is a less massive star. It is challenging to unambiguously determine whether a LMXB hosts a black hole or…
This chapter discusses the implications of X-ray binaries on our knowledge of Type Ibc and Type II supernovae. X-ray binaries contain accreting neutron stars and stellar--mass black holes which are the end points of massive star evolution.…
A neutron star low-mass X-ray binary is a binary stellar system with a neutron star and a low-mass companion star rotating around each other. In this system the neutron star accretes mass from the companion, and as this matter falls into…
X-ray astronomy allows study of objects which may be associated with compact objects, i.e. neutron stars or black holes, and also may contain strong magnetic fields. Such objects are categorically non-spherical, and likely non-circular when…
The formation of stellar mass black holes is still very uncertain. Two main uncertainties are the amount of mass ejected in the supernova event (if any) and the magnitude of the natal kick the black hole receives at birth (if any). Repetto…
Compact objects observed via gravitational waves are classified as black holes or neutron stars primarily based on their inferred mass with respect to stellar evolution expectations. However, astrophysical expectations for the lowest mass…
There are over 100 Be stars that are known to have neutron star companions but only one such system with a black hole. Previous theoretical work suggests this is not due to their formation but due to differences in X-ray luminosity. It has…
Mass distribution of black holes in low-mass X-ray binaries previously suggested the existence of a $ \sim 2-5M_{\odot} $ mass gap between the most massive neutron stars and the least massive black holes, while some recent evidence appears…