Related papers: Compact Objects and Accretion Disks
We review the dramatic progress in the simulations of compact objects and compact-object binaries that has taken place in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. This includes simulations of the inspirals and violent mergers of…
Black holes are among the most extreme objects that can be found in the Universe and an ideal laboratory for testing fundamental physics. This article will briefly review the basic properties of black holes as expected from general…
Study of astrophysics of black holes and neutron stars has taken a new turn in the present decade with the realization that sub-Keplerian flows and the associated centrifugal barrier near the horizon or the surface of a neutron star play a…
We review models which include advective accretion disks onto compact objects and discuss the influence of the centrifugal pressure supported high density region close to the compact objects on the emitted spectra. We show that the…
Probing the existence of hypothetical particles beyond the Standard model often deals with extreme parameters: large energies, tiny cross-sections, large time scales, etc. Sometimes laboratory experiments can test required regions of…
In this chapter we present a brief summary of methods, instruments and calibration techniques used in modern astronomical polarimetry in the optical wavelengths. We describe the properties of various polarization devices and detectors used…
This white paper highlights compact object and fundamental physics science opportunities afforded by high-throughput broadband (0.1-60 keV) X-ray polarization observations. X-ray polarimetry gives new observables with geometric information…
This colloquium analyzes the interaction of light with two-dimensional periodic arrays of particles and holes. The enhanced optical transmission observed in the latter and the presence of surface modes in patterned metal surfaces are…
The detection of fast quasi-periodic variability from accreting black holes and neutron stars has been used to constrain their masses, radii, and spins. If the observed oscillations are linear modes in the accretion disks, then bounds can…
We discuss properties of thermal and hybrid (thermal/non-thermal) electron-positron plasmas in the pair and energy equilibria. Various accretion disc-corona models, recently proposed to explain properties of galactic as well as…
Accreting compact objects are crucial to understand several important astrophysical phenomena such as Type Ia supernovae, gravitational waves, or X-ray and $\gamma$-ray bursts. In addition, they are natural laboratories to infer fundamental…
Accretion disks around compact objects are expected to enter an unstable phase at high luminosity. One instability may occur when the radiation pressure generated by accretion modifies the disk viscosity, resulting in the cyclic depletion…
We present a set of new characteristic frequencies associated with accretion disks around compact objects. These frequencies arise from persistent rotating patterns in the disk that are finite in radial extent and driven purely by the…
Twenty years have passed since the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the Universe, reviving the interest for alternative theories of gravity. Adding a scalar degree of freedom to the usual metric of general relativity is one of the…
This paper reviews the X-ray, optical, radio and IR observations of galactic X-ray binaries suspected to contain black hole compact objects, with particular emphasis on the supporting dynamical evidence.
The characteristic and distinctive features of the visibility amplitude of interferometric observations for compact objects like stars in the immediate vicinity of the central black hole in our Galaxy are considered. These features are…
This set of lectures is an introduction to black-hole astrophysics. The emphasis is made on the phenomenology of X-ray binaries and of supermassive compact objects at galactic centers.
Gravitational waves open the possibility to investigate the nature of compact objects and probe the horizons of black holes. Some models of modified gravity predict the presence of horizonless and singularity-free compact objects. Such dark…
Coalescing compact object binaries consisting of black holes and/or Neutron stars are a prime target for ground-based gravitational wave detectors. This article reviews the status of numerical simulations of these systems, with an emphasis…
The fluctuating brightness of cosmic X-ray sources, particularly accreting black holes and neutron star systems, has enabled enormous progress in understanding the physics of turbulent accretion flows, the behaviour of matter on the…