Related papers: Bright X-ray Pulsars: how outflows influence beami…
Observations of X-ray flares from Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) imply strong constraints on possible physical models. We provide a general discussion of these. In particular, we show that in order to account for the relatively flat and weak…
A model is proposed for the observed combination of power-law and thermal emission of keV X-rays from rotationally powered pulsars. For gamma-ray pulsars with accelerators very many stellar radii above the neutron star surface, 100 MeV…
Rapid, large amplitude variability at optical to X-ray wavelengths is now seen in an increasing number of Seyfert galaxies and luminous quasars. The variations imply a global change in accretion power, but are too rapid to be communicated…
Significant gravitational wave emission is expected from gamma-ray bursts arising from compact stellar mergers, and possibly also from bursts associated with fast-rotating massive stellar core collapses. These models have in common a high…
X-ray irradiation of the accretion disc leads to strong reflection features, which are then broadened and distorted by relativistic effects. We present a detailed, general relativistic approach to model this irradiation for different…
We report on long-term monitoring of anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. Using phase-coherent timing, we find a wide variety of behaviors among the sources, ranging from high stability (in 1E 2259.1+586 and…
The observed signatures of winds from X-ray binaries are broadly consistent with thermal winds, driven by X-ray irradiation of the outer accretion disc. Thermal winds produce mass outflow rates that can exceed the accretion rate in the…
A number of recent lines of evidence point towards the presence of hot, out-flowing plasma from the central regions of compact Galactic and extragalactic X-ray sources. Additionally, it has long been noted that many of these sources exhibit…
Accreting X-ray pulsars (XRPs) are presumably ideal targets for polarization measurements, as their high magnetic field strength is expected to polarize the emission up to a polarization degree of ~80%. However, such expectations are being…
Very faint X-ray binaries appear to be transient in many cases with peak luminosities much fainter than that of usual soft X-ray transients, but their nature still remains elusive. We investigate the possibility that this transient…
We show that magnetar models for ULX behaviour have serious internal inconsistencies. The magnetic fields required to increase the limiting luminosity for radiation pressure above the observed (assumed isotropic) luminosities are completely…
Rapid UBVRI photometry of this ultracompact LMXB pulsar has detected 7.67 s optical pulsations in all five bands. The optical pulsations, which are at the same frequency as the X-ray pulsations, are understood as reprocessing of pulsed…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are bright extragalactic sources with X-ray luminosities above 10^39 erg/s powered by accretion onto compact objects. According to the first studies performed with XMM-Newton ULXs seemed to be excellent…
The light curves observed from X-ray pulsars and magnetars reflect the radiation emission pattern, the geometry of the magnetic field, and the neutron star compactness. We study the statistics of X-ray pulse profiles in order to constrain…
In accretion systems, outflows may have significant influence on the luminosity fluctuations. In this paper, following the Lyubarskii's general scheme, we revisit the power spectral density of luminosity fluctuations by taking into account…
Observations suggest that accretion discs in many X-ray binaries are likely flared. An outer edge of the disc intercepts radiation from the central X-ray source. Part of that radiation is absorbed and reemitted in the optical/UV spectral…
Strong outflows from active galactic nuclei are frequently observed in objects with lower coronal X-ray luminosity. This intrinsic X-ray weakness is considered a requirement for the formation of radiatively driven winds. To obtain an…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) have captivated researchers for decades due to their exceptionally high luminosities and unique spectral characteristics. Some of these sources defy expectations by exhibiting super-Eddington luminosities…
Thermal emission from the surface of an ultramagnetic neutron star is believed to contribute significantly to the soft X-ray flux of the Anomalous X-ray Pulsars. We compare the detailed predictions of models of the surface emission from a…
Straight-forward models of X-ray reflection in the inner region of accretion discs predict that primary X-ray flux and the flux reflected off the surface of the disc should vary together, albeit a short light travel time delay. Most of the…