Search Publications

Observing the onset of the accretion wake in Vela X-1
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202245708 Bibcode: 2023A&A...674A.147D

Santangelo, A.; Grinberg, V.; Kretschmar, P. +7 more

High-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) offer a unique opportunity to investigate accretion onto compact objects and the wind structure in massive stars. A key source for such studies is the bright neutron star HMXB Vela X-1 whose convenient physical and orbital parameters facilitate analyses and in particular enable studies of the wind structure in HMXB…

2023 Astronomy and Astrophysics
Exosat XMM-Newton 9
A catalogue of unusually long thermonuclear bursts on neutron stars
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stad374 Bibcode: 2023MNRAS.521.3608A

Degenaar, N.; in't Zand, J. J. M.; Kuulkers, E. +10 more

Rare, energetic (long) thermonuclear (Type I) X-ray bursts are classified either as intermediate-duration or 'supern' bursts, based on their duration. Intermediate-duration bursts lasting a few to tens of minutes are thought to arise from the thermonuclear runaway of a relatively thick (≈1010 g cm-2) helium layer, while super…

2023 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Exosat INTEGRAL 9
A helium-burning white dwarf binary as a supersoft X-ray source
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05714-4 Bibcode: 2023Natur.615..605G

Burgess, J. M.; Werner, K.; Haberl, F. +12 more

Type Ia supernovae are cosmic distance indicators1,2, and the main source of iron in the Universe3,4, but their formation paths are still debated. Several dozen supersoft X-ray sources, in which a white dwarf accretes hydrogen-rich matter from a non-degenerate donor star, have been observed5 and suggested as Type I…

2023 Nature
Exosat XMM-Newton 6
The false widow link between neutron star X-ray binaries and spider pulsars
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stad383 Bibcode: 2023MNRAS.520.3416K

Ingram, Adam; Middleton, Matthew; Rhodes, Lauren +3 more

The discovery of transitional millisecond pulsars (tMSPs) provided conclusive proof that neutron star (NS) low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) comprise part of the evolutionary pathway towards binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs). Redback and black widow 'spider' pulsars are a subcategory of binary MSPs that 'devour' their companions through ablation - t…

2023 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Exosat XMM-Newton 6
The spectra of IceCube Neutrino (SIN) candidate sources - IV. Spectral energy distributions and multiwavelength variability
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stad2724 Bibcode: 2023MNRAS.526..661K

Giommi, Paolo; Padovani, Paolo; Karl, Martina

We present hybrid spectral energy distributions, combining photon, and neutrino fluxes, for a sample of blazars, which are candidate IceCube neutrino sources. We furthermore check for differences in our sources' variability in the near-infrared, optical, X-ray, and γ-ray bands compared to a sample of non-neutrino source candidate blazars, and inve…

2023 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Exosat XMM-Newton 4
A helium nova in the Large Magellanic Cloud - the faint supersoft X-ray source [HP99]159
DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/slad096 Bibcode: 2023MNRAS.525L..56K

Kato, Mariko; Hachisu, Izumi; Saio, Hideyuki

We propose a helium nova model for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) supersoft X-ray source (SSS) [HP99]159. This object has long been detected as a faint and persistent SSS for about 30 yr, and recently been interpreted to be a source of steady helium-shell burning, because no hydrogen lines are observed. We find that the object can also be interp…

2023 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Exosat XMM-Newton 1