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X-rays trace accretion onto compact objects in binaries with low mass companions at rates ranging up to near Eddington. Accretion at high rates onto neutron stars goes through cycles with time-scales of days to months. At lower average…
Due to the complexity of modeling the radiative transfer inside the accretion columns of neutron star binaries, their X-ray spectra are still commonly described with phenomenological models, for example, a cutoff power law. While the…
Using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RossiXTE), astronomers have discovered that disk-accreting neutron stars with weak magnetic fields produce three distinct types of high-frequency X-ray oscillations. These oscillations are powered by…
We present a spectral analysis of NuSTAR and NICER observations of the luminous, persistently accreting neutron star (NS) low-mass X-ray binary Cygnus X-2. The data were divided into different branches that the source traces out on the…
The continuum-fitting method is one of the two most advanced methods of determining the black hole spin in accreting X-ray binary systems. There are, however, still some unresolved issues with the underlying disk models. One of them…
The hard X-ray spectrum of magnetic cataclysmic variables can be modelled to provide a measurement of white dwarf mass. This method is complementary to radial velocity measurements, which depend on the (typically rather uncertain) binary…
We identify sources with extremely hard X-ray spectra (i.e., with photon indices of Gamma<0.6 in the 13 sq. deg. NuSTAR serendipitous survey, to search for the most highly obscured AGNs detected at >10 keV. Eight extreme NuSTAR sources are…
We present the results obtained from a comprehensive timing and spectral study of two high-mass X-ray binary sources using NuSTAR observations. These two sources, IGR J16320-4751 and IGR J16479-4514, were discovered by INTEGRAL and have…
The Be X-ray binary EXO 2030+375 was in an extended low luminosity state during most of 2016. We observed this state with NuSTAR and Swift, supported by INTEGRAL observations as well as optical spectroscopy with the NOT. We present a…
X-ray reflection spectroscopy is currently one of the leading techniques for studying the inner part of accretion disks around black holes, measuring black hole spins, and even testing fundamental physics in strong gravitational fields.…
In this review I briefly describe the latest advances in studies of aperiodic variability of accreting X-ray binaries and outline the model which currently describe the majority of observational appearances of variability of accreting…
We aim at characterizing the population of low-luminosity X-ray sources in the Galactic plane by studying their X-ray spectra and periodic signals in the light curves. We are performing an X-ray survey of the Galactic disk using XMM-Newton,…
We report on the results of spectral fits made to a NuSTAR observation of the black hole GRS 1915+105 in a "plateau" state. This state is of special interest because it is similar to the "low/hard" state seen in other black holes,…
The X-ray spectra of accretion discs of eight stellar-mass black holes have been analyzed to date using the thermal continuum fitting method, and the spectral fits have been used to estimate the spin parameters of the black holes. However,…
The launch of NuSTAR and the increasing number of binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected through gravitational wave (GW) observations have exponentially advanced our understanding of black holes. Despite the simplicity owed to being fully…
We have studied several neutron star high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) with super-giant (SG) companions using a wind-fed binary model associated with the magnetic field. By using the concept of torque balance, the magnetic field parameter…
In modeling the X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), the inclination angle is a parameter that can play an important role in analyzing the X-ray spectra of AGN, but it has never been studied in detail. We present a broadband…
Iron emission lines at 6.4-6.97 keV, identified with fluorescent Kalpha transitions, are among the strongest discrete features in the X-ray band. These are therefore one of the most powerful probes to infer the properties of the plasma in…
Observations of the black hole and neutron star X-ray binaries show that the luminosity of the hard-to-soft state transition is usually higher than that of the soft-to-hard state transition, indicating additional parameters other than the…
X-ray reflection spectroscopy is potentially a powerful tool to probe the spacetime geometry around astrophysical black holes and test general relativity in the strong field regime. However, precision tests of general relativity are only…