Related papers: X-rays from Quiescent Low-Mass X-ray Binary Transi…
In X-ray binaries, rapid variability in X-ray flux of greater than an order of magnitude on time-scales of a day or less appears to be a signature of wind accretion from a supergiant companion. When the variability takes the form of rare,…
At luminosities below a few percent of Eddington, accreting black holes switch to a hard spectral state which is very different from the soft blackbody-like spectral state that is found at higher luminosities. The hard state is…
Low-mass black hole X-ray Binaries (LMXBs) undergo outbursts, during which their brightness increases greatly for timescales of months. The X-ray accretion and radio jet properties change dramatically throughout an outburst in a broadly…
The X-ray emission from accreting black-holes and neutron stars features strong variability on sub-second time scales, with very complex and broad phenomenology. From high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations to rapidly changing X-ray…
The characteristics of black-hole X-ray binaries can be used to obtain information about their evolutionary history and the process of black-hole formation. In this paper I focus on systems with donor masses lower than the inferred…
In this Letter we propose a formation channel for low-mass X-ray binaries with black hole accretors and non-degenerate donors via grazing tidal encounters with subgiants. We estimate that in a typically dense globular cluster with the core…
In X-ray binary star systems consisting of a compact object that accretes material from an orbiting secondary star, there is no straightforward means to decide if the compact object is a black hole or a neutron star. To assist this…
Millisecond radio pulsars are neutron stars that have been spun-up by the transfer of angular momentum during the low-mass X-ray binary phase. The transition from an accretion-powered to a rotation-powered pulsar takes place on evolutionary…
Stellar evolutionary models predict that most of the early type subdwarf stars in close binary systems have white dwarf companions. More massive companions, such as neutron stars or black holes, are also expected in some cases. The presence…
We report the results of observations of the black hole binaries XTE J1550-564 and H 1743-322 in their quiescent state using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Both sources are detected at their faintest level of X-ray emission ever observed…
We analyze a flux-limited sample of persistent and bright (with 2-10 keV fluxes exceeding 1.4e-10 erg/s/cm2) low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) in our Galaxy. It is demonstrated that the majority of binary systems with X-ray luminosities below…
In recent years, searches of archival X-ray data have revealed galaxies exhibiting nuclear quasi-periodic eruptions with periods of several hours. These are reminiscent of the tidal disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole, and the…
Stellar-mass black holes (BHs) are mostly found in X-ray transients, a subclass of X-ray binaries that exhibit violent outbursts. None of the 50 Galactic BHs known show eclipses, which is surprising for a random distribution of…
We consider observational tests for the nature of Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). These must distinguish between thermal-timescale mass transfer on to stellar-mass black holes leading to anisotropic X-ray emission, and accretion on to…
A number of studies have revealed variability from neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries during quiescence. Such variability is not well characterised, or understood, but may be a common property that has been missed due to lack of multiple…
We present near-infrared (NIR) imaging observations of three transient neutron star X-ray binaries, SAX J1753.5-2349, SAX J1806.5-2215 and AX J1754.2-2754. All three sources are members of the class of `very faint' X-ray transients which…
Recently, a class of long-period radio transients (LPTs) has been discovered, exhibiting emission on timescales thousands of times longer than radio pulsars. Several models had been proposed implicating either a strong magnetic field…
Context. Supergiant fast X-ray transients are a subclass of high mass X-ray binaries that host a neutron star accreting mass from the wind of its OB supergiant companion. They are characterized by an extremely pronounced and rapid…
This paper surveys our current knowledge of the hard X-ray emission properties of old accreting neutron stars in low mass X-ray binaries. Hard X-ray components extending up to energies of a few hundred keV have been clearly detected in…
We report on Chandra X-ray observations of four candidate low-mass black hole (<10^6Msun) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that have the estimated Eddington ratios among the lowest (~10^(-2)) found for this class. The aims are to validate the…