Related papers: Chance coincidences between black hole low-mass X-…
The component black holes (BHs) observed in gravitational-wave (GW) binary black hole (BBH) events tend to be more massive and slower spinning than those observed in black hole X-ray binaries (BH-XRBs). Without modeling their evolutionary…
There are few observed high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) that harbor massive black holes, and none are likely to result in a binary black hole (BBH) that merges within a Hubble time; however, we know that massive merging BBHs exist from…
A number of neutron stars have been observed within the remnants of the core-collapse supernova explosions that created them. In contrast, black holes are not yet clearly associated with supernova remnants. Indeed, some observations suggest…
We report the discovery of a very young high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) system associated with the supernova remnant (SNR) MCSNRJ0513-6724 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), using XMM-Newton X-ray observations. The HMXB is located at the…
High mass X-ray binaries (HMXRBs) like Cygnus X-1, host some of the most rapidly spinning black holes (BHs) known to date, reaching spin parameters $a \gtrsim 0.84$. However, there are several effects that can severely limit the maximum BH…
The number of binaries containing black holes or neutron stars depends critically on the fraction of binaries that survive supernova explosions. We searched for surviving star plus remnant binaries in a sample of 49 supernova remnants (SNR)…
It has been suggested that black-hole low-mass X-ray binaries (BHLMXBs) with short orbital periods may have evolved from BH binaries with an intermediate-mass secondary, but the donor star seems to always have higher effective temperatures…
Studies of nearby elliptical and S0 galaxies reveal that roughly half of the low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), which are luminous tracers of accreting neutron star or black hole systems, are in clusters. There is a surprising tendency of…
Currently, there are 24 black hole (BH) X-ray binary systems that have been dynamically confirmed in the Galaxy. Most of them are low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) comprised of a stellar-mass BH and a low-mass donor star. Although the…
Supermassive binary black holes (SBBHs) are a natural outcome of galaxy mergers. Here we show that low-frequency ($f \leq 10^{-6}$ Hz) quasi-periodic variability observed from cosmic blazar sources can provide substantial inductive support…
X-ray Flashes (XRFs) are, like Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), thought to signal the collapse of massive stars in distant galaxies. Many models posit that the isotropic equivalent energies of XRFs are lower than those for GRBs, such that they are…
Studies of nearby galaxies reveal that roughly half of their low mass X-ray binary (LMXB) populations are associated with globular clusters (GCs). We have established that the LMXB hosting frequency is correlated to various GC properties…
The most luminous X-ray sources in nearby elliptical galaxies are likely black hole low-mass X-ray binaries (BHLMXBs). In the Milky Way, such systems are always transient, and with the exception of GRS1915+105 have burst durations on the…
Black hole (BH) spins in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) cover a range of values that can be explained by accretion after BH birth. In contrast, the three BH spin measurements in high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) show only values near the…
Recent observations of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) suggest that binary neutron star (NS) mergers can create highly magnetised, millisecond NSs. Sharp cut-offs in X-ray afterglow plateaus of some SGRBs hint at the gravitational collapse…
Black-hole (BH) high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) systems are likely to be the progenitors of BH-BH mergers detected by LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK). Yet merging BHs reach higher masses ($\sim 100M_{\odot}$) than BHs in HMXBs ($\sim 20 M_{\odot}$)…
We propose a new formation mechanism (direct-supernova) for low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) that does not involve any prior phase of mass transfer. Survival through the supernova (SN) explosion and shrinkage of the orbit is achieved by a…
This chapter discusses the implications of X-ray binaries on our knowledge of Type Ibc and Type II supernovae. X-ray binaries contain accreting neutron stars and stellar--mass black holes which are the end points of massive star evolution.…
Appreciable star formation, and, therefore, numerous massive stars, are frequently found near supermassive black holes (SMBHs). As a result, core-collapse supernovae in these regions should also be expected. In this paper, we consider the…
We investigate systematically whether accreting black hole systems are likely to reach global alignment of the black hole spin and its accretion disc with the binary plane. In low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) there is only a modest tendency…