Related papers: Measuring interacting binary mass functions with X…
A review is given on aspects of indirect imaging techniques in X-ray binaries which are used as diagnostics tools for probing the X-ray dominated accretion disc physics. These techniques utilize observed properties such as the emission line…
We present a new method to measure the radius-to-mass ratio (R/M) of weakly magnetic, disc-accreting neutron stars by exploiting the occultation of parts of the inner disc by the star itself. This occultation imprints characteristic…
There are over 100 Be stars that are known to have neutron star companions but only one such system with a black hole. Previous theoretical work suggests this is not due to their formation but due to differences in X-ray luminosity. It has…
We use X-ray and optical microlensing measurements to study the shape of the dark matter density profile in the lens galaxies and the size of the (soft) X-ray emission region. We show that single epoch X-ray microlensing is sensitive to the…
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…
We consider current observational constraints on the presence of cool, optically thick disk material in quiescent black hole binaries, specifically focusing on a case study of the prototypical system A0620-00. Such material might be…
We present photometric observations of the field around the optical counterparts of high-mass X-ray binaries. Our aim is to study the long-term photometric variability in correlation with their X-ray activity and derive a set of secondary…
We present orbital elements for twenty-two single-line binaries, nine of them studied for the first time, determined from a joint spectroscopic and astrometric solution. The astrometry is based on interferometric measurements obtained with…
The X-ray light-curves of the recurring outbursts observed in low-mass X-ray binaries provide strong test beds for constraining (still) poorly understood disc-accretion processes. These light-curves act as a powerful diagnostic to probe the…
The majority of massive classical Be stars are thought to be binary interactions products. Their rapid rotation and often strong, variable, and emission-line dominated spectrum, make spectroscopic analysis challenging. Hence, robust binary…
This paper outlines an infrared spectroscopic technique to measure the radial velocities of faint secondaries in known single-lined binaries. The paper presents our H-band observations with the CSHELL and Phoenix spectrographs and describes…
Detecting compact objects by means of their gravitational lensing effect on an observed companion in a binary system has already been suggested almost four decades ago. However, these predictions were made even before the first observations…
X-ray binaries, as bright local sources with short variability timescales for a wide range of accretion processes, represent ideal targets for high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. In this chapter, we present a high-resolution X-ray spectral…
The most widely used means of measuring the mass of black holes in Galactic binaries - specifically the X-ray novae - involves both radial velocity measurements of the secondary star, and photometric measurements of its ellipsoidal…
X-ray reflection spectra from photoionized accretion discs in active galaxies are presented for a wide range of illumination conditions. The energy, equivalent width (EW) and flux of the Fe K line are shown to depend strongly on the ratio…
The radial velocity curves of optical components in X-ray binary systems can differ from the radial velocity curves of their barycenters due to tidal distortion, gravitational darkening, X-ray heating, etc. This motivated us to investigate…
We present here the preliminary results of the study of the fluorescent iron line emission from X-ray pulsars with Be companions. We propose to use properties of this emission to investigate the spatial distribution and physical conditions…
We present new optical and infrared (IR) observations of Cir X-1 taken near apastron. Both sets of spectra show asymmetric emission lines. Archival optical observations show that an asymmetric H-alpha emission line has been in evidence for…
We develop a method for identifying a compact object in binary systems with astrometric measurements and apply it to some binaries. Compact objects in some high-mass X-ray binaries and gamma-ray binaries are unknown, which is responsible…
Radial velocity monitoring has revealed the presence of moving broad emission lines in some quasars, potentially indicating the presence of a sub-parsec binary system. Phase-referenced, near-infrared interferometric observations could map…