Related papers: X-ray Binaries
In this review I briefly describe the nature of the three kinds of High-Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs), accreting through: (i) Be circumstellar disc, (ii) supergiant stellar wind, and (iii) Roche lobe filling supergiants. A previously unknown…
Neutron stars in X-ray binary systems are fascinating objects that display a wide range of timing and spectral phenomena in the X-rays. Not only parameters of the neutron stars, like magnetic field strength and spin period evolve in their…
Electromagnetic and gravitational wave observations indicate that there is dearth of compact objects with mass $\sim 2.5-5~{\rm M_\odot}$. This so-called "mass gap" may be linked to the supernova explosion mechanisms that produce neutron…
Today's sensitive, high-resolution X-ray observations allow the study of populations of X-ray sources, in the luminosity range of Galactic X-ray binaries, in galaxies as distant as 20-30 Mpc. The traditional astronomical tools of…
Currently, there are 24 black hole (BH) X-ray binary systems that have been dynamically confirmed in the Galaxy. Most of them are low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) comprised of a stellar-mass BH and a low-mass donor star. Although the…
The formation path to ultra-compact X-ray binaries (UCXBs) with black hole (BH) accretors is still unclear. In the classical formation scenario, it is difficult to eject the massive envelope of the progenitor star of the BH via common…
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…
In this chapter, I present the main X-ray observational characteristics of black-hole binaries and low magnetic field neutron-star binaries, concentrating on what can be considered similarities or differences, with particular emphasis on…
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 study the evolution of a low mass x-ray binary coupling a binary stellar evolution code with a general relativistic code that describes the behavior of the neutron star. We assume the neutron star to be low--magnetized (B~10^8 G). In the…
The majority of all stars are members of a binary system. The evolution of such binary stars and their subsequent production of pairs of compact objects in tight orbits, such as double neutron stars and double black holes, play a central…
In X-ray binary star systems consisting of a compact object that accretes material from an orbiting secondary star, there is no straightforward means to decide if the compact object is a black hole or a neutron star. To assist this…
We present the results of a systematic study of the evolution of low- and intermediate-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs and IMXBs). Using a standard Henyey-type stellar-evolution code and a standard model for binary interactions, we have…
Context. Ultracompact X-ray binaries (UCXBs) typically consist of a white dwarf donor and a neutron star or black hole accretor. The evolution of UCXBs and very low mass ratio binaries in general is poorly understood. Aims. We investigate…
This paper reviews some of the recent observational results on stellar mass black hole candidates. Over the last decade, much of the progress in this field has been achieved through the study of transient X--ray binary sources which shine…
We summarize the quiescent X-ray observations of transient low-mass X-ray binaries. These observations show that, in quiescence, binaries containing black holes are fainter than those containing neutron stars. This has triggered a number of…
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…
We calculate the formation rates of low-mass X-ray binaries with a black hole. Both a semi-analytic and a more detailed model predict formation rates two orders of magnitude lower than derived from the observations. Solution of this…
In the Galaxy there are 64 Be X-ray binaries known to-date. Out of those, 42 host a neutron star, and for the reminder the nature of a companion is not known. None, so far, is known to host a black hole. There seems to be no apparent…
In this review I first describe the nature of the three kinds of High-Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs), accreting through: (i) Be circumstellar disc, (ii) supergiant stellar wind, and (iii) Roche lobe filling supergiants. I then report on the…