Related papers: Quantifying Rapid Variability in Accreting Compact…
Accreting neutron stars exhibit pulsed X-rays and complex temporal variability across multi-wavelengths and different timescales. This variability could be driven by various physical processes including instability or inhomogeneous motions…
Gravitational-wave detections are enabling measurements of the rate of coalescences of binaries composed of two compact objects -- neutron stars and/or black holes. The coalescence rate of binaries containing neutron stars is further…
Black hole X-ray binaries display significant stochastic variability on short time-scales (0.01-100 seconds), with a complex pattern of lags in correlated variability seen in different energy bands. This behaviour is generally interpreted…
A comprehensive review of aperiodic rapid X-ray variability (QPO and noise) in X-ray binaries with neutron stars and black holes.
Variability of radio-emitting active galactic nuclei can be used to probe both intrinsic variations arising from shocks, flares, and other changes in emission from regions surrounding the central supermassive black hole, as well as…
The interpretation of Fourier spectra in the time domain is critically examined. Power density spectra defined and calculated in the time domain are compared with Fourier spectra in the frequency domain for three different types of…
We describe how the coherence function, a Fourier frequency-dependent measure of the linear correlation between time series measured simultaneously in two energy channels, can be used in conjunction with energy spectra, power spectra, and…
X-ray studies of stellar mass black holes in X-ray binaries and mass-accreting supermassive black holes in Active Galactic Nuclei have achieved a high degree of maturity and have delivered detailed information about the astrophysical…
The changes in brightness of an astronomical source as a function of time are key probes into that source's physics. Periodic and quasi-periodic signals are indicators of fundamental time (and length) scales in the system, while stochastic…
The Fourier spectral techniques that are common in Astronomy for analyzing periodic or multi-periodic light-curves lose their usefulness when they are applied to unsteady light-curves. We review some of the novel techniques that have been…
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…
Timing techniques offer powerful tools to study dynamical astrophysical phenomena. In the X-ray band, they offer the potential of probing accretion physics down to the event horizon. Recent work has used frequency and energy-dependent time…
The study of X-ray time-lag spectra in active galactic nuclei (AGN) is currently an active research area, since it has the potential to illuminate the physics and geometry of the innermost region (i.e. close to the putative super-massive…
The spectrum of the hard X-ray background records the history of accretion processes integrated over the cosmic time. Several observational and theoretical evidences indicate that a significant fraction of the energy density is obscured by…
From a uniform analysis of a large (8.5 Ms) Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer data set of Low Mass X-ray Binaries, we present a complete identification of all the variability components in the power spectra of black holes in their canonical…
In early 1996 a series of discoveries begun with NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer of a new, up to then unknown astrophysical phenomenon. It turned out that accreting low magnetic-field neutron stars show quasi-periodic oscillations in…
What are the most important conditions and processes governing the growth of stellar-origin compact objects? The identification of compact object type as either black hole (BH) or neutron star (NS) is fundamental to understanding their…
In the last 10 years multi-wavelength fast variability studies of low mass X-ray binaries have shown a dramatic development. A key discovery was the detection of O-IR sub-second fluctuations in two black-hole transients, lagging the X-rays…
The dramatic discovery with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer satellite of remarkably coherent $\sim$300--1200 Hz oscillations in the X-ray brightness of some sixteen neutron stars in low-mass binary systems has spurred theoretical modeling…
Although during the last decade new observations and new theoretical results have brought better understanding of the physics of accretion onto compact objects, many old and several new questions and problems await answers and solutions. I…