Related papers: Are there magnetars in high-mass X-ray binaries?
High magnetic fields are a distinguishing feature of neutron stars and the existence of sources (the soft gamma repeaters and the anomalous X-ray pulsars) hosting an ultra-magnetized neutron star (or magnetar) has been recognized in the…
Well before the radio discovery of pulsars offered the first observational confirmation for their existence (Hewish et al., 1968), it had been suggested that neutron stars might be endowed with very strong magnetic fields of…
We consider the currently observed spin distributions of various types of neutron stars, including isolated and binary radio millisecond pulsars in the Galactic plane and globular cluster system as well as neutron stars in low-mass X-ray…
Strong winds from massive stars are a topic of interest to a wide range of astrophysical fields. In High-Mass X-ray Binaries the presence of an accreting compact object on the one side allows to infer wind parameters from studies of the…
A number of disparate observational and theoretical pieces of evidence indicate that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, neutron stars' closed field lines are populated by dense, hot plasma and may be responsible for producing some radio…
I review several scenarios of magnetar formation in binary systems via spin-up of a progenitor due to interaction with its companion. Mostly, these evolutionary channels lead to formation of isolated magnetars, and indeed, all…
We study the spin evolution of X-ray neutron stars in binary systems, which are being spun up by mass transfer from accretion disks. Our investigation reveals that a quark phase transition resulting from the changing central density induced…
The intense magnetic fields present in neutron stars are closely linked to their observed temperature and spectral characteristics, timing properties, including spin period and its derivatives. Therefore, a comprehensive theoretical…
The formation channels of magnetars remain an open question. Although core collapse supernovae of isolated massive stars are important, binary interactions -- such as tidal interaction, common envelope evolution, and stellar mergers -- may…
Magnetars are neutron stars showing dramatic X-ray and soft $\gamma$-ray outbursting behaviour that is thought to be powered by intense internal magnetic fields. Like conventional young neutron stars in the form of radio pulsars, magnetars…
Recently the first finding of a spin period of an accreting neutron star in M31 is reported. The observed spin period is 1.2 s and it shows 1.27 d modulations due to orbital motion. From the orbital information, the mass donor could not be…
A binary in which a slightly evolved star starts mass transfer to a neutron star can evolve towards ultra-short orbital periods under the influence of magnetic braking. This is called magnetic capture. We investigate in detail for which…
There has recently been growing evidence for the existence of neutron stars possessing magnetic fields with strengths that exceed the quantum critical field strength of $4.4 \times 10^{13}$ G, at which the cyclotron energy equals the…
In this brief review I summarize our basic knowledge about different types of isolated neutron stars. I discuss radio pulsars, central compact objects in supernova remnants, magnetars, near-by cooling neutron stars (aka the Magnificent…
Strongly magnetized, accreting neutron stars show periodic and aperiodic variability over a wide range of time scales. By obtaining spectral and timing information on these different time scales, we can have a closer look into the physics…
We investigate the connections between the magnetic fields and the X-ray emission from massive stars. Our study shows that the X-ray properties of known strongly magnetic stars are diverse: while some comply to the predictions of the…
Anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft gamma repeaters have recently emerged as a unified class of neutron stars, identified by dramatic X-ray and gamma-ray outbursts and via luminous X-ray pulsations, both thought to be powered by the decay of…
Magnetars are a special kind of neutron stars. There may also be accreting magnetars. From the studies of isolated magnetars, it is known that a neutron star with a strong dipole field only is not a magnetar. Super-slow X-ray pulsars may…
Thanks to the high sensitivity of the instruments on board the XMM-Newton and Chandra satellites, it has become possible to explore the properties of the X-ray emission from hot subdwarfs. The small but growing sample of hot subdwarfs…
Binary systems in which a neutron star or black hole accretes material from a high-mass star are known as high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). This chapter provides a brief introduction to the physics of wind accretion and an observational…