Related papers: Six new candidate ultracompact X-ray binaries

We present two simultaneous NICER and NuSTAR observations of the ultra-compact X-ray binary (UCXB) candidate SLX 1735-269 while the source was in two different spectral states. Using various reflection modeling techniques, we find that…

Our Galaxy harbours a large population of X-ray sources of intermediate to low X-ray luminosity (typically Lx from 10^27 to 10^34 erg/s). At energies below 2 keV, active coronae completely dominate the X-ray landscape. However, the nature…

The models that seek to explain the reflection spectrum in black hole binaries usually invoke a point-like primary source of hard X-rays. This source illuminates the accretion disk and gives rise to the discrete (lines) and…

The discovery of source states in the X-ray emission of black-hole binaries and neutron-star low-mass X-ray binaries constituted a major step forward in the understanding of the physics of accretion onto compact objects. While there are…

A review is given on aspects of indirect imaging techniques in X-ray binaries which are used as diagnostics tools for probing the X-ray dominated accretion disc physics. These techniques utilize observed properties such as the emission line…

IGR J17062-6143 is an ultra-compact X-ray binary (UCXB) with an orbital period of 37.96 min. It harbours a millisecond X-ray pulsar that is spinning at 163 Hz and and has continuously been accreting from its companion star since 2006.…

Black hole (BH) ultracompact X-ray binaries (UCXBs) are potential Galactic low-frequency gravitational wave (GW) sources. As an alternative channel, BH UCXBs can evolve from BH+He star binaries. In this work, we perform a detailed stellar…

The outbursts of low mass X-ray binaries are prolonged relative to those of dwarf nova cataclysmic variables as a consequence of X-ray irradiation of the disc. We show that the time-scale of the decay light curve and its luminosity at a…

We review the properties and behavior X-ray binaries that contain an accreting black hole. The larger majority of such systems are X-ray transients, and many of them were observed in daily pointings with RXTE throughout the course of their…

Recent observations of long and short gamma-ray bursts have revealed a puzzling X-ray activity that in some cases continues for hours after the burst. It is difficult to reconcile such time scales with the viscous time scales that an…

Evidence is emerging that the luminous X-ray sources in the cores of globular clusters may often consist of, or perhaps even as a class be dominated by, ultracompact (P < 1 hr) binary stars. To the two such systems already known, in NGC…

The recurring transient outbursts in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) provide us with strong test-beds for constraining the poorly understood accretion process. While impossible to image directly, phase-resolved spectroscopy can provide a…

Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are off-nuclear point sources in nearby galaxies with luminosities well exceeding the Eddington limit for stellar-mass objects. It has been recognized after the discovery of pulsating ULXs (PULXs) that a…

The faintest ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), those with 0.3-10 keV luminosities 1 < L_X/10^39 < 3 erg s^-1, tend to have X-ray spectra that are disk-like but broader than expected for thin accretion disks. These `broadened disk' spectra…

The author presented the results on the evolution of NS LMXBs and the formation of UCXBs(Ma & Li 2009 for details), and proposed a scenario for the formation of UCXBs from L/IMXBs with the aid of a CB disk in this work.

Using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RossiXTE), astronomers have discovered that disk-accreting neutron stars with weak magnetic fields produce three distinct types of high-frequency X-ray oscillations. These oscillations are powered by…

X-ray binaries (XRBs) are probes of both star formation and stellar mass, but more importantly remain one of the only direct tracers of the compact object population. To investigate the XRB population in M31, we utilized all 121 publicly…

Low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) with neutron stars show quite different features which depend on the rate of mass transfer from the donor star. With a high transfer rate the Z sources are in a persistent soft spectral state, with a moderate…

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…

Two flares with a duration of several hours are reported for the low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1636-53. The characteristics of these flares (i.e., decay time scales, spectral softening, fluences) are very similar to the very long type-I X-ray…