X-Ray Binaries

About this book

X-ray binaries are some of the most varied and perplexing systems known to astronomers. The compact object which accretes mass from its companion star may be a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole, whereas the donor star can be a 'normal' star or a white dwarf. The various combinations differ widely in their behaviour, and this timely volume provides a unique reference of our knowledge to date of all of them. Fifteen specially written chapters by a team of the world's foremost researchers in the field explore all aspects of the X-ray binaries. They cover the X-ray, ultraviolet, optical and radio properties of these violent systems and address key issues such as: how were these systems formed, and what will be their fate; how can we understand X-ray bursts, and how the quasi-periodic oscillations; what is the connection between millisecond radio pulsars and low-mass X-ray binaries; and how does the magnetic field of a neutron star decay? This long awaited review provides graduate students and researchers with the standard reference on X-ray binaries for many years to come.

Contents

Preface; 1. The properties of X-ray binaries, N. E. White, F. Nagase and A. N. Parmar; 2. Optical and ultraviolet observations of X-ray binaries J. van Paradijs and J. E. McClintock; 3. Black-hole binaries Y. Tanaka and W. H. G. Lewin; 4. X-ray bursts Walter H. G. Lewin, Jan Van Paradijs and Ronald E. Taam; 5. Millisecond pulsars D. Bhattacharya; 6. Rapid aperiodic variability in binaries M. van der Klis; 7. Radio properties of X-ray binaries R. M. Hjellming and X. Han; 8. Cataclysmic variable stars France Anne-Dominic Cordova; 9. Normal galaxies and their X-ray binary populations G. Fabbiano; 10. Accretion in close binaries Andrew King; 11. Formation and evolution of neutron stars and black holes in binaries F. Verbunt and E. P. J. van den Heuvel; 12. The magnetic fields of neutron stars and their evolution D. Bhattacharya and G. Srinivasan; 13. Cosmic gamma-ray bursts K. Hurley; 14. A catalogue of X-ray binaries Jan van Paradijs; 15. A compilation of cataclysmic binaries with known or suspected orbital periods Hans Ritter and Ulrich Kolb; References; Index.

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