Related papers: Wind accretion in the massive X-ray binary 4U 2206…
There are three low-mass X-ray binaries (4U 0614+091, 2S 0918-549, and 4U 1543-624) for which broad line emission near 0.7 keV was previously reported. A recent high-resolution observation of 4U 0614+091 with the Chandra/LETGS found…
We carry out a numerical experiment of ejecting winds in a massive colliding wind binary system, and quantifying the accretion onto the secondary star under different primary mass loss rates. We set a binary system comprising a Luminous…
We report on the results of an XMM-Newton observation of the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient (SFXT) IGR J08408-4503 performed in June 2020. The source is composed by a compact object (likely a neutron star) orbiting around an O8.5Ib-II(f)p…
Gamma-ray binaries are systems containing a massive star and a compact object that have been detected up to TeV energies. The high energy emission could result from particle acceleration in the region where the stellar wind from the massive…
We provide a brief review of the physical processes behind the radiative driving of the winds of OB stars and the Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton capture and accretion of a fraction of the stellar wind by a compact object, typically a neutron star,…
Context. Non-dusty late-type giants without a corona and large-scale pulsations represent objects that do not fulfil the conditions under which standard mass-loss mechanisms can be applied efficiently. The driving mechanism of their winds…
The accretion flow / jet correlation in neutron star (NS) low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) is far less understood when compared to black hole (BH) LMXBs. In this paper we will present the results of a dense multi-wavelength observational…
(Abridged) We report on ASCA and BeppoSAX observations of the X-ray source 4U 1700+24 and on (quasi-)simultaneous spectroscopy of its optical counterpart, V934 Her, from the Loiano 1.5-meter telescope. Archival ROSAT and RXTE data as well…
We describe here the nature, formation and evolution of the supergiant high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) population, i.e. systems accreting the stellar wind of supergiant stars. There are now many new observations, from the high-energy side…
The ultracompact X-ray binary 4U 1820-30 is well known for its ~170-d superorbital modulation in X-ray flux and spectrum, and the exclusiveness of bursting behavior to the low hard 'island' state. In May-June 2009, there was an…
High-mass X-ray binaries are fundamental in the study of stellar evolution, nucleosynthesis, structure and evolution of galaxies and accretion processes. Hard X-rays observations by INTEGRAL and Swift have broad- ened significantly our…
The distribution of the circumstellar material in systems of supergiant X-ray binaries (SgXBs) is complex and not well probed observationally. We report a detailed study of the spatial distribution of the Fe K{\alpha}-emitting material in…
X-ray emission associated to accretion onto compact objects displays important levels of photometric and spectroscopic time-variability. When the accretor orbits a Supergiant star, it captures a fraction of the supersonic radiatively-driven…
Interacting binaries are of general interest as laboratories for investigating the physics of accretion, which gives rise to the bulk of high-energy radiation in the Galaxy. They allow us to probe stellar evolution processes that cannot be…
Recent observations demonstrate that the symbiotic X-ray binary (SyXB) IGR J17329-2731 contains a highly magnetized neutron star (NS) which accretes matter through the wind from its giant star companion, and suggest that 4U 1700+24 may also…
The symbiotic X-ray binary GX 1+4 possesses a number of peculiar properties that have been studied since the early 1970s. In particular, the orbital period has been a point of debate for many years, until radial velocity measurements were…
Our long-term photometric monitoring of southern nova-like cataclysmic variables with the 1.3-m SMARTS telescope found BB Doradus fading from V ~ 14.3 towards a deep low state at V ~ 19.3 in April 2008. Here we present time-resolved optical…
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…
Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULX) have so high X-ray luminosities that they were long thought to be accreting intermediate mass black holes. Yet, some ULX have been shown to display periodic modulations and coherent pulsations, suggestive…
Symbiotic X-ray binaries (SyXBs) comprise a rare class of low-mass X-ray binaries. We study the Galactic SyXBs, which we consider as detached binaries composed of low-mass giants and wind-fed neutron star companions, by simulation of the…