Related papers: Spectral transitions in X-ray Binaries
Low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) are systems in which a low-mass companion transfers mass via Roche-lobe overflow onto a black hole (BH) or a weakly magnetized neutron star (NS). It is believed that both the solid surface and the magnetic…
There are four major X-ray satellites currently in operation, with two more shortly to follow, and several very ambitious observatories in various stages of planning. This very rich period of X-ray observation is leading to great advances…
Neutron star (NS) masses and radii can be estimated from observations of photospheric radius-expansion X-ray bursts, provided the chemical composition of the photosphere, the spectral colour-correction factors in the observed luminosity…
The standard thin accretion disc model predicts that discs around stellar mass black holes become radiation pressure dominated and thermally unstable once their luminosity exceeds L>0.02 L_Edd. Observationally, discs in the high/soft state…
We explore the hardening of a massive black hole binary embedded in a circum-binary gas disc when the binary and the gas are coplanar and the gas is counter-rotating. The secondary black hole, revolving in the direction opposite to the gas,…
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…
With their relatively fast variability time-scales, Galactic X-ray binaries provide an excellent laboratory to explore the physics of accretion and related phenomena, most notably outflows, over different regimes. After comparing the…
Accreting black holes show a complex and diverse behaviour in their soft spectral states. Although these spectra are dominated by a soft, thermal component which almost certainly arises from an accretion disc, there is also a hard X-ray…
We present self-consistent models for the radiative transfer in Shakura-Sunyaev accretion discs in bright low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXB). Our calculations include the full effects of incoherent Compton scattering and the vertical…
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…
We have used pointed RXTE data to examine the long-term X-ray light curves of six transient black hole X-ray binaries during their decay from outburst to quiescence. In most cases there is a period of exponential decay as the source…
Recently an `outliers' track of radio-X-ray correlation was found, which is much steeper than the former universal correlation, where dual tracks were speculated to be triggered by different accretion processes. In this work, we test this…
X-ray irradiation in X-ray binaries is thought to control the behavior at the outer disc, which is observable mainly at optical wavelengths. It is generally parameterized phenomenologically, but it can also be predicted from theoretical…
Accretion onto supermassive black holes powers the most luminous persistent sources in the Universe, the so-called active galactic nuclei, whose emission is characterized by two distinct spectral components: thermal optical/ultraviolet…
Irradiation of the accretion disc causes reflection signatures in the observed X-ray spectrum, encoding important information about the disc structure and density. A Type I X-ray burst will strongly irradiate the accretion disc and alter…
We study the evolution of a low mass x-ray binary coupling a binary stellar evolution code with a general relativistic code that describes the behavior of the neutron star. We assume the neutron star to be low--magnetized (B~10^8 G). In the…
We present a model for the short timescale spectral variability of accreting black holes. It describes well the time-averaged spectra as well as temporal characteristics such as power-density spectrum, time/phase lags, and coherence…
X-ray continuum spectra of super-Eddington accretion flow are studied by means of Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations based on the radiation hydrodynamic simulation data, in which both of thermal and bulk Compton scatterings are…
We show that the combination of the similarities between the X-ray properties of low luminosity accreting black holes and accreting neutron stars, combined with the differences in their radio properties argues that the X-rays from these…
Accreting binaries containing a black hole are stellar systems composed of a normal star and a black hole. Because of the strong gravitational pull of the black hole, matter is removed from the companion star and falls into the compact ob…