Related papers: Understanding superbursts
The properties of starbursts in ultraluminous infrared galaxies are discussed, with particular emphasis on the fueling, the amount of extinction and the intrinsic properties of the nuclear starbursts. It is shown by the example of NGC6240…
We report the serendipitous detection with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer of a long and peculiar X-ray burst whose localization is consistent with one known X-ray burster (GRS 1747-312) and which occurred when that source was otherwise…
During accretion, a neutron star (NS) is spun up as angular momentum is transported through its liquid surface layers. We study the resulting differentially rotating profile, focusing on the impact this has for type I X-ray bursts. The…
We present a detailed observational and theoretical study of a ~3 hr long X-ray burst (the ``super burst'') observed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) from the low mass X-ray binary (LMXB) 4U 1820-30. This is the longest X-ray burst…
We present recent work on using astronomical observations of neutron stars to reveal unique insights into nuclear matter that cannot be obtained from laboratories on Earth. First, we discuss our measurement of the rapid cooling of the…
We report the discovery of Type I (thermonuclear) X-ray bursts from the transient source XMMU J181227.8-181234 = XTE J1812-182. We found 7 X-ray bursts in Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations during the 2008 outburst, confirming the…
Thermonuclear bursts from slowly accreting neutron stars (NSs) have proven difficult to detect, yet they are potential probes of the thermal properties of the neutron star interior. During the first year of a systematic all-sky search for…
Burst oscillations are brightness asymmetries that develop in the burning ocean during thermonuclear bursts on accreting neutron stars. They have been observed during H/He-triggered (Type I) bursts and Carbon-triggered superbursts. The…
The lightcurve of the explosion of a star with a radius <10-100Rsun is powered mostly by radioactive decay. Observationally such events are dominated by hydrogen deficient progenitors and classified as Type I supernovae: white dwarf…
We report on Chandra, RXTE, Swift/BAT and MAXI observations of a ~1 day X-ray flare and subsequent outburst of a transient X-ray source observed in October-November 2011 in the globular cluster Terzan 5. We show that the source is the same…
Thermonuclear X-ray bursts from accreting neutron stars power brief but strong irradiation of their surroundings, providing a unique way to study accretion physics. We analyze MAXI/GSC and Swift/XRT spectra of a day-long flash observed from…
Recently we have made measurements of thermonuclear burst energetics and recurrence times which are unprecedented in their precision, largely thanks to the sensitivity of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. In the "Clocked Burster", GS…
We present a sample of observations of thermonuclear (type-I) X-ray bursts, selected for comparison with numerical models. Provided are examples of four distinct cases of thermonuclear ignition: He-ignition in mixed H/He fuel (case 1 of…
Accreting neutron stars (NS) can exhibit high frequency modulations in their lightcurves during thermonuclear X-ray bursts, known as burst oscillations. The frequencies can be offset from the spin frequency of the NS by several Hz, and can…
We observed the Rapid Burster with Chandra when it was in the 'banana' state that usually precedes the type-II X-ray bursting 'island' state for which the source is particularly known. We employed the High-Energy Transmission Grating…
The extraordinary starbursts found in ultraluminous IR galaxies occur in molecular gas concentrated in compact very massive "clouds" which we call "Extreme Starbursts". They have one thousand times the mass but are only a few times larger…
We report the detection with the BeppoSAX Wide Field Cameras of a superburst from 4U 1254-690. The superburst is preceded by a normal type-I X-ray burst, has a decay time that is the longest of all eight superbursts detected so far and a…
Swift J1749.4-2807 is the only known eclipsing accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar. In this paper, we report on 7 thermonuclear (Type-I) X-ray bursts observed by NICER during its 2021 outburst. The first 6 bursts show slow rises and long…
We investigate the latitude at which type I X-ray bursts are ignited on rapidly rotating accreting neutron stars. We find that, for a wide range of accretion rates, ignition occurs preferentially at the equator, in accord with the work of…
Type I X-ray bursts and superbursts on neutron stars release sudden and intense radiation fields into their surroundings. Here, we consider the possible effects of these powerful explosions on the structure of the accretion disk. The goal…