Related papers: Circumstellar structures around high-mass X-ray bi…
High-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) are exceptional astrophysical laboratories that offer a rare glimpse into the physical processes that govern accretion on compact objects, massive-star winds, and stellar evolution. In a subset of the HMXBs,…
We present sub-arcsecond resolution ground-based near-infrared images of the central regions of a sample of twelve barred galaxies with circumnuclear star formation activity, which is organized in ring-like regions typically one kiloparsec…
The observational evidence for jets and phenomena arising from rotation powered radio pulsars is reviewed, including many recent and exciting discoveries at X-ray wavelengths. The well studied jets of the Crab pulsar are summarised,…
It has been suggested that both X-ray bursters and millisecond radio pulsars may be strange (quark) stars, rather than neutron stars. Confirming (or rejecting) this suggestion may require knowing what role strong-field effects of general…
The structure of a circumstellar envelope around a young binary T Tauri star is considered. The supersonic orbital motion of the system components in the envelope gas leads to the formation of bow shocks around the star. Two- and…
The formation of massive stars in close binary systems is complicated due to their high radiation pressure, the crowded environment and the expected minimum separation for fragmentation being many times greater than the orbital separation.…
High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXB) have been revealed by a wealth of multi-wavelength observations, from X-ray to optical and infrared domain. After describing the 3 different kinds of HMXB, we focus on 3 HMXB hosting supergiant stars: IGR…
The importance of stellar encounters in producing stellar exotica in dense stellar clusters is reviewed. We discuss how collisions between main-sequence stars may be responsible for the production of blue stragglers in globular clusters. We…
Massive stars drive strong winds that impact the surrounding interstellar medium, producing parsec-scale bubbles for isolated stars and superbubbles around young clusters. These bubbles can be observed across the electromagnetic spectrum,…
We identify and quantify the set of constraints that neutron star-normal star binaries must satisfy in order to become observable LMXBs. These constraints are related to (i) the thermal and hydrostatic equilibrium of the donors, (ii) the…
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…
Most of the planetary systems discovered around binary stars are located at approximately three semi-major axes from the barycentre of their system, curiously close to low-order mean-motion resonances (MMRs). The formation mechanism of…
We present an investigation of the known sample of runaway stars. The orbits of these stars are traced back to their origin in the Galactic disc. The velocity distribution of these stars is compared to theoretical predictions. We conclude…
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…
I give a brief review of how X-rays from nearby galaxies are used as direct tracers of recent star formation. This leads to the conclusion that it is the most luminous point-like sources that are associated with star formation and that the…
It has long been suggested that X-ray transients are produced at periastron of stellar-compact object binaries with eccentric orbits. Recoil of matter evaporated from the star by X-rays from matter transferred at periastron increases the…
Be/X-ray binaries are systems formed by a massive Be star and a magnetized neutron star, usually in an eccentric orbit. The Be star has strong equatorial winds occasionally forming a circumstellar disk. When the neutron star intersects the…
Several binary systems have been detected at High Energy (HE, E > 100 MeV) and/or Very High Energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma rays. Some of them are X-ray binaries in which accretion feeds relativistic radio jets and powers the non-thermal…
The formation of ultra-compact X-ray binaries (UCXBs) has not been well understood. Previous works show that ultra-short orbital periods ($<1$ hr) may be reached through mass transfer driven by magnetic braking in normal…
The microquasar phenomenon is associated with the production of jets by X-ray binaries and, as such, may be associated with the majority of such systems. In this chapter we briefly outline the associations, definite, probable, possible, and…