Related papers: Problems in the astrophysics of accretion onto com…
The recent emergence of a new class of accretion-powered, transient, millisecond X-ray pulsars presents some difficulties for the conventional picture of accretion onto rapidly rotating magnetized neutron stars and their spin behavior…
Although disk accretion onto compact objects - white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes - is central to much of high energy astrophysics, the mechanisms which enable this process have remained observationally elusive. Accretion disks…
Keplerian accretion discs around massive black holes (MBHs) are gravitationally unstable beyond a few hundredths of parsec and should collapse to form stars. Indeed an accretion/star formation episode took place a few millions years ago in…
Circumbinary accretion occurs throughout the universe, from the formation of stars and planets to the aftermath of major galactic mergers. We present an extensive investigation of circumbinary accretion disks, studying circular binaries…
Current astrophysical research suggests that the most persistently luminous objects in the Universe are powered by the flow of matter through accretion disks onto black holes. Accretion disk systems are observed to emit copious radiation…
The standard thin accretion disk model has been successfully used to explain the soft X-ray spectra of Galactic black hole systems and perhaps the UV emission of Active Galactic Nuclei. However, radiation pressure dominated disks are known…
We show that stable disk accretion should be very rare among low-mass X-ray binaries and cataclysmic variables whose evolution is driven by the nuclear expansion of the secondary star on the first giant branch. Stable accretion is confined…
I briefly review the theory of soft X-ray transient systems. Irradiation of the accretion disc faces by the central X-ray source determines both the occurrence and the nature of the outbursts, in particular forcing these to be long viscous…
I review recent progresses in the dynamics and the evolution of self-gravitating accretion discs. Accretion discs are a fundamental component of several astrophysical systems on very diverse scales, and can be found around supermassive…
Ultracompact X-ray binaries (UCXBs) appear able to sustain accretion onto the compact accretor at rates lower than in wider X-ray binaries. This may be understood by the smaller accretion disks in UCXBs: a lower X-ray luminosity suffices to…
(abridged) We review how the recent increase in X-ray and radio data from black hole and neutron star binaries can be merged together with theoretical advances to give a coherent picture of the physics of the accretion flow in strong…
Supercritical accretion onto compact objects powers a massive wind that is optically thick and Eddington-limited. If most of the hard X-rays from the central disk are obscured by the wind, the source will display a blackbody-like spectrum…
The nature of the 5-12 s "anomalous" X-ray pulsars remains a mystery. Among the models that have been proposed to explain the properties of AXPs, the most likely ones are: (1) isolated accreting neutron stars evolved from the…
We review the current understanding of accretion flows around compact objects with a special emphasis on advective disks. We discuss the influence of the centrifugal pressure supported high density region around compact objects (where…
In this lecture the basic theory of accretion disks is reviewed, with emphasis on aspects relevant for X-ray binaries and Cataclysmic Variables. The text gives a general introduction as well as a selective discussion of a number of more…
Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) are a distinct class of X-ray binaries transferring mass from a donor star to a compact star accretor, a white dwarf. They constitute a laboratory for accretion physics, mechanisms and disk theory together with…
Accretion from a disk onto a collapsed, relativistic star -- a neutron star or black hole -- is the mechanism widely believed to be responsible for the emission from compact X-ray binaries. Because of the extreme spatial resolution…
Using the disc instability model for dwarf novae and soft X-ray transients, we investigate the stability of accretion discs in long-period binary systems. We simulate outbursts due to this thermal-viscous instability for two symbiotic…
In this paper we survey the theory of wind accretion in high mass X-ray binaries hosting a magnetic neutron star and a supergiant companion. We concentrate on the different types of interaction between the inflowing wind matter and the…
We demonstrate that generically an accretion disk around a compact object could have a new type of instability in that the accretion flow need not be symmetric with respect to the equatorial plane even when matter is supplied symmetrically…