Related papers: A New Evolutionary Picture for CVs and LMXBs
We have initiated a dedicated search for new CVs, selecting candidates on the base of their spectroscopic properties in the Hamburg Quasar Survey (HQS), which lead up to now to the identification of 50 new CVs and a dozen good candidates.…
This article summarizes the basic facts and ideas concerning the formation and evolution of cataclysmic variables (CVs). It is shown why the formation of CVs must involve huge losses of mass and orbital angular momentum, very likely via a…
The study of very short-period contact binaries provides an important laboratory in which the most important and problematic astrophysical processes of stellar evolution take place. Short-period contact systems, such as CC Com are…
Ultra-compact X-ray binaries (UCXBs) are accreting systems with periods less than 1 hour, which qualifies them to contain a degenerate donor-companion. One would expect such systems to have the easiest theoretical explanation, compared to…
We study the evolution of Low Mass X-ray Binaries (LMXBs) and of millisecond binary radio pulsars (MSPs), with numerical simulations that keep into account the evolution of the companion, of the binary system and of the neutron star.…
We use an independent new sample of cataclysmic variables (CVs), constructed by selecting objects for Halpha emission, to constrain the properties of the intrinsic CV population. This sample is restricted to systems that are likely to be…
Massive stars are usually found in binaries, and binaries with periods less than 10 days may have a preference for near equal component masses. In this paper we investigate the evolution of these binaries all the way to contact and the…
Common envelopes form in dynamical time scale mass exchange, when the envelope of a donor star engulfs a much denser companion, and the core of the donor plus the dense companion star spiral inward through this dissipative envelope. As…
Very low-mass binaries (VLMBs), with system masses <0.2 Msun appear to have very different properties to stellar binaries. This has led to the suggestion that VLMBs form a distinct and different population. As most stars are born in…
By comparing the orbital period distributions of black hole and neutron star low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) in the Ritter-Kolb catalogue we show that there is statistical evidence for a dearth of black hole systems at short orbital periods…
In the absence of constraints from the binary companion or supernova remnant, the standard method for estimating pulsar ages is to infer an age from the rate of spin-down. While the generic spin-down age may give realistic estimates for…
A low mass X-ray binary (LMXB) contains either a neutron star or a black hole accreting materials from its low mass companion star. It is one of the primary astrophysical sources for studying the stellar size compact objects and the…
Cataclysmic variables were long considered to be close binaries consisting of a white dwarf and a Roche-lobe-filling, near-zero-age main-sequence (ZAMS) red or brown dwarf. Recent massive surveys have uncovered an increasing number of…
We discuss the high lithium abundances in the secondary stars of X-ray binaries. We show that no lithium production in these stars is necessary, and that the abundances can be explained simply due to the tidally locked rotation of the…
The X-ray emission from normal elliptical galaxies has two major components: soft emission from diffuse gas and harder emission from populations of accreting (low-mass) stellar X-ray binaries (LMXB). If LMXB populations are tied to the…
We summarize the channels formation of neutron stars (NS) in single or binary evolution and the classic recycling scenario by which mass accretion by a donor companion accelerates old NS to millisecond pulsars (MSP). We consider the…
Because most large galaxies contain a central black hole, and galaxies often merge, black-hole binaries are expected to be common in galactic nuclei. Although they cannot be imaged, periodicities in the light curves of quasars have been…
We introduce a method for obtaining the X-ray luminosity function (XLF) and the binary-period distribution of populations of high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) in the stellar fields (i.e. outside globular clusters) of normal galaxies. We…
Redback millisecond pulsars (hereafter redbacks) are a sub-population of eclipsing millisecond pulsars in close binaries. The formation processes of these systems are not clear. The three pulsars showing transitions between rotation- and…
We consider evolutionary models for the population of short-period (<10 hr) low-mass black-hole binaries (LMBHBs) and compare them with observations of soft X-ray transients (SXTs). We show that assuming strongly reduced magnetic braking…