Related papers: Thermonuclear Bursts with Short Recurrence Times f…
Superbursts are long duration, rare, and extremely energetic thermonuclear explosions of neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries (NS LMXBs), which are proposed to be due to unstable carbon ignition. We report the superburst properties and…
Type-I X-ray bursts observed from neutron stars originate from intermittent unstable thermonuclear burning of accreted matter on these stars. Such bursts, particularly those reaching the Eddington luminosity and having a temporary…
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…
Neutron stars, with their strong surface gravity, have interestingly short timescales for the sedimentation of heavy elements. Motivated by observations of Type I X-ray bursts from sources with extremely low persistent accretion…
We present a compilation of observed recurrence times ($t_{\rm rec}$) and infer the corresponding local mass-accretion rates ($\dot m$) for type I X-ray bursts, milliHertz quasi-periodic oscillating sources and recurrent novae eruptions. We…
Theory and observations favor stable helium burning as the most important means to produce fuel for superbursts on neutron star surfaces. However, all known superbursters exhibit unstable burning as well. This ambiguity prompted us to…
The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer has detected nearly coherent oscillations in the tails of type I X-ray bursts from 17 low-mass X-ray binaries. The oscillations are thought to be generated by brightness fluctuations associated with a surface…
The light curves of type I X-ray bursts (XRBs) result from energy released from the atmosphere of a neutron star when accreted hydrogen and helium ignite and burn explosively via the rp-process. Since charged particle reaction rates are…
The stability of thermonuclear burning of hydrogen and helium accreted onto neutron stars is strongly dependent on the mass accretion rate. The burning behavior is observed to change from Type I X-ray bursts to stable burning, with…
Explosive hydrogen burning in type I X-ray bursts (XRBs) comprise charged particle reactions creating isotopes with masses up to A~100. Since charged particle reactions in a stellar environment are very temperature sensitive, we use a…
We searched for thermonuclear X-ray bursts from Galactic neutron stars in all event mode data of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory collected until March 31, 2018. In particular, we are interested in the intermediate-duration bursts (shell…
We construct a two-zone model to describe H and He burning on the surface of an accreting neutron star and use it to study the triggering of type I X-ray bursts. Although highly simplified, the model reproduces all of the bursting regimes…
MAXI J1807+132 is a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) first detected in outburst in 2017. Observations during the 2017 outburst did not allow for an unambiguous identification of the nature of the compact object. MAXI J1807+132 was detected in…
Superbursts of neutron stars are rare but powerful events explained by the explosive burning of carbon in the deep layers of the outer envelope of the star. In this paper we perform a simulation of superbursts and propose a simple method…
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…
Superbursts from accreting neutron stars probe nuclear reactions at extreme densities ($\rho \approx 10^{9}~g\,cm^{-3}$) and temperatures ($T>10^9~K$). These bursts ($\sim$1000 times more energetic than type I X-ray bursts) are most likely…
Thermonuclear burning on the surface of a neutron star causes the expansion of a thin outer layer of the star, $\Delta R(t)$. The layer rotates slower than the star due to angular momentum conservation. The shear between the star and the…
Classical nova explosions and type I X-ray bursts are the most frequent types of thermonuclear stellar explosions in the Galaxy. Both phenomena arise from thermonuclear ignition in the envelopes of accreting compact objects in close binary…
Superbursts are rare and energetic thermonuclear carbon flashes observed to occur on accreting neutron stars. We create the first multi-zone models of series of superbursts using a stellar evolution code. We self-consistently build up the…
Relativistic jets are observed from accreting and cataclysmic transients throughout the Universe, and have a profound affect on their surroundings. Despite their importance, their launch mechanism is not known. For accreting neutron stars,…