High energies emissions observed in X-ray binaries (XRBs), active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are linearly polarised. The prominent mechanism for X-ray is the Comptonization process. We revisit the theory for polarisation in Compton scattering with unpolarised electrons and note that the ($k \times k^{\prime}$)-coordinate (in which, ($k \times k^{\prime}$) acts as a z-axis, here k and k′ are incident and scattered photon momentum, respectively) is more convenient to describe it. Interestingly, for a fixed scattering plane the degree of polarisation PD after single scattering for randomly oriented low-energy unpolarised incident photons is $\sim$0.33. At the scattering angle $\theta$ = 0 or $\theta \equiv$ [0,25$^{\circ}$], the modulation curve of k′ exhibits the same PD and PA (angle of polarisation) of k, and even the distribution of projection of electric vector of k′ ($k^{\prime}_{e}$) on perpendicular plane to the k indicates same (so, an essential criteria for detector designing). We compute the polarisation state in Comptonization process using Monte Carlo methods with considering a simple spherical corona. We obtain the PD of emergent photons as a function of $\theta$-angle (or alternatively, the disc inclination angle i) on a meridian plane (i.e. the laws of darkening, formulated by Chandrasekhar (1946, ApJ, 103, 351) after single scattering with unpolarised incident photons. To explore the energy dependency we consider a general spectral parameter set corresponding to hard and soft states of XRBs, we find that for average scattering no. $\langle N_{sc}\rangle$ $\sim$1.1 the PD is independent of energy and PA $\sim 90^{\circ}$ ($k^{\prime}_{e}$ is parallel to the disc plane), and for $\langle N_{sc}\rangle$ $\sim$5 the PD value is maximum for $i=45^{\circ}$. We also compare the results qualitatively with observation of IXPE for five sources.

We present the results of our long-term RTT-150 photometric and spectroscopic observations Be optical counterpart of the High-mass X-ray binary IGR J21343+4738.

We report on a study of 9 nearby primitive galaxies observed by Hubble’s COS far-UV spectrograph that can serve as templates of high-z galaxies to be observed by JWST. By “primitive galaxies,” we mean galaxies having a low stellar mass, and low gas metallicity, , whether they are local or at high redshift. We find that far-UV spectra of these galaxies show evidence of hard radiation, including X-rays. Following Thuan et al. (2004), we identify these galaxies as massive X-ray binaries containing a massive accreting stellar black hole. We further find that the lower the metallicity, the higher the probability of extremely strong X-radiation. Following Heger et al. (2003), we suggest that the accreting black hold is produced by direct collapse of stars having initial masses greater than 50 . The X-radiation produced by black hole disk directly affects the surrounding interstellar medium, and many of these effects are observable in far-UV spectra.

We present a detailed spectroscopic analysis of the only known eclipsing high mass X-ray binary with a black hole companion, M33 X-7. We obtained the first UV spectra of the system accompanied by X-ray observations, taken at three key orbital phases. We performed a detailed analysis of X-Ray, UV, and archival optical spectra using stellar atmosphere models which shed light on the interaction of the stellar wind with the black hole. Our new analysis suggests a large reduction in component masses compared to previous results. Our one-dimensional calculations confirm that the photoionization by the X-ray radiation can significantly change the ionization structure and diminish the wind accelerations. For this system standard wind-fed accretion scenario alone cannot explain the observed X-ray luminosity, indicating an additional mass overflow towards the black hole. Our evolutionary models suggest that the system is transitioning towards a common envelope stage in which both components merge.

Massive stars emit X-rays. Despite modest X-ray luminosities of single hot massive stars, the ongoing large observing campaigns combining X-ray and UV spectroscopy provide a tomographic view of stellar winds. It is now established that X-ray radiation is modulated with stellar rotation and shows the same period as discrete absorption components (DACs) in the UV resonance lines. The latter are associated with corotating interaction regions (CIRs) in stellar winds, therefore the mechanisms responsible for generation of X-rays and CIRs appear to be physically linked. Binary massive stars with accreting compact companions – high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) – are routinely observed by modern X-ray observatories at Mpc distances. Joint observations in X-ray and UV allow to determine realistic properties of these systems. The brightest sources among HMXBs are ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). Their powerful radiation is an important source of stellar feedback. HMXBs are the products of massive binary evolution and are typically found in the vicinity of young massive star clusters. The superstar clusters blow hot superbubbles which fill large areas in star-forming dwarf galaxies. Recent models show that X-ray emission from superbubbles is likely the dominant source of He ii ionization in metal-poor star-forming dwarf galaxies. To conclude, X-ray observations provide an important window for studying massive stars and their feedback near and far.

We explore the effect of anisotropic wind driving on the properties of accretion onto black holes (BHs) in close binaries. We specifically focus on line-driven winds, which are common in high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). In close binary systems, the tidal force from the companion star can modify the wind structure in two different ways. One is the reduction of wind terminal velocity due to the weaker effective surface gravity. The other is the reduction in mass flux due to gravity darkening (GD). We incorporate these effects into the so-called CAK theory in a simple way and investigate the wind flow around the accretor on the orbital scale. We find that a focused accretion stream is naturally formed when the Roche lobe filling factor is ${\gtrsim}0.8$ –0.9, analogous to that of wind Roche lobe overflow, but only when the velocity reduction is taken into account. The formation of a stream is necessary to bring in sufficient angular momentum to form an accretion disc around the BH. GD effects reduce the amount of accreted angular momentum, but not enough to prevent the formation of a disc. Based on these results, we expect there to be a discrete step in the observability of HMXBs depending on whether the donor Roche lobe filling factor is below or above ${\sim}$ 0.8–0.9.

We present a broadband radio study of the transient jets ejected from the black hole candidate X-ray binary MAXI J1535–571, which underwent a prolonged outburst beginning on 2017 September 2. We monitored MAXI J1535–571 with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) at frequencies from 119 to 186 MHz over six epochs from 2017 September 20 to 2017 October 14. The source was quasi-simultaneously observed over the frequency range 0.84–19 GHz by UTMOST (the Upgraded Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope) the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), and the Australian Long Baseline Array (LBA). Using the LBA observations from 2017 September 23, we measured the source size to be $34\pm1$ mas. During the brightest radio flare on 2017 September 21, the source was detected down to 119 MHz by the MWA, and the radio spectrum indicates a turnover between 250 and 500 MHz, which is most likely due to synchrotron self-absorption (SSA). By fitting the radio spectrum with a SSA model and using the LBA size measurement, we determined various physical parameters of the jet knot (identified in ATCA data), including the jet opening angle ( $\phi_{\rm op} = 4.5\pm1.2^{\circ}$ ) and the magnetic field strength ( $B_{\rm s} = 104^{+80}_{-78}$ mG). Our fitted magnetic field strength agrees reasonably well with that inferred from the standard equipartition approach, suggesting the jet knot to be close to equipartition. Our study highlights the capabilities of the Australian suite of radio telescopes to jointly probe radio jets in black hole X-ray binaries via simultaneous observations over a broad frequency range, and with differing angular resolutions. This suite allows us to determine the physical properties of X-ray binary jets. Finally, our study emphasises the potential contributions that can be made by the low-frequency part of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA-Low) in the study of black hole X-ray binaries.

We present the results of our extensive binary orbital motion corrected pulsation search for 13 low-mass X-ray binaries. These selected sources exhibit burst oscillations in X-rays with frequencies ranging from 45 to 1 122 Hz and have a binary orbital period varying from 2.1 to 18.9 h. We first determined episodes that contain weak pulsations around the burst oscillation frequency by searching all archival Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer data of these sources. Then, we applied Doppler corrections to these pulsation episodes to discard the smearing effect of the binary orbital motion and searched for recovered pulsations at the second stage. Here we report 75 pulsation episodes that contain weak but coherent pulsations around the burst oscillation frequency. Furthermore, we report eight new episodes that show relatively strong pulsations in the binary orbital motion corrected data.

The dust properties of the line-of-sight materials in neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) can be probed by X-ray observations and laboratory experiments. We use a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method to conduct a spectral analysis of Chandra ACIS-S/HETG archival data of a sample of LMXBs, including GX 5-1 and GX 13+1. Our MCMC-based analysis puts constraints on the Si K-edge dust properties of the outflowing disk winds in this sample. Further X-ray observations of other LMXBs will help us better understand the grain features of dense outflows and accretion flows in neutron star binary systems.

Situation with highly magnetized neutron stars in binary systems is not yet certain. On the one hand, all best studied magnetars seem to be isolated objects. On the other, there are many claims based on model-dependent analysis of spin properties or/and luminosity of neutron stars in X-ray binaries in favour of large fields. In addition, there are a few results suggesting a magnetar-like activity of neutron stars in close binary systems. Most of theoretical considerations do not favour even existence, not speaking about active decay, of magnetar-scale fields in neutron stars older than ∼106 yrs. However, alternative scenarios of the field evolution exist. I provide a brief review of theoretical and observational results related to the presence of neutron stars with large magnetic field in binaries and discuss perspectives of future studies.

One of the models explaining the high luminosity of pulsing ultra-luminous X-ray sources (pULXs) was suggested by Mushtukov et al. (2015). They showed that the accretion columns on the surfaces of highly magnetized neutron stars can be very luminous due to opacity reduction in the high magnetic field. However, a strong magnetic field leads also to amplification of the electron-positron pairs creation. Therefore, increasing of the electron and positron number densities compensates the cross-section reduction, and the electron scattering opacity does not decrease with the magnetic field magnification. As a result, the maximum possible luminosity of the accretion column does not increase with the magnetic field. It ranges between 1040 − 1041 erg s−1 depending only slightly on the magnetic field strength.

KV UMa (XTE J1118+480) is an X-ray binary that is known to undergo outbursts in 2000 and 2005. This paper presents the discovery of a large outburst starting in 1927 on the archival photographic plates and an analysis of the long-term optical activity of this system. We used the photographic data from DASCH (Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard). We placed the 1927 outburst in the context of the observed outbursts of KV UMa. We show that it is a double event, with a precursor similar to the one of the outbursts in 2000. We find a big difference between the 1927 and 2000 outbursts as regards the length of the gap between the precursor and the main outburst. It is more than 250 d in 1927, whereas it is about 20 d in 2000, although the brightnesses of all peaks are mutually comparable. We also show that the individual optical outbursts of KV UMa differ from each other by the duration of the stage of a slow decline of brightness (sometimes roughly a plateau). This determines the length of the entire main outburst. Both the peak magnitude and the brightness of the outburst when the slow decline transitions to a steep final decaying branch plausibly reproduce in all three outbursts. In the interpretation, the short duration of the precursor is caused by the fact that only the thermal-viscous instability operated in the accretion disk while also the tidal instability of the disk contributed in the subsequent main outburst.

In this paper, we present the stationary axisymmetric configuration of a resistive magnetised thick accretion disc in the vicinity of external gravity and intrinsic dipolar magnetic field of a slowly rotating black hole. The plasma is described by the equations of fully general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) along with the Ohm’s law and in the absence of the effects of radiation fields. We try to solve these two-dimensional MHD equations analytically as much as possible. However, we sometimes inevitably refer to numerical methods as well. To fully understand the relativistic geometrically thick accretion disc structure, we consider all three components of the fluid velocity to be non-zero. This implies that the magnetofluid can flow in all three directions surrounding the central black hole. As we get radially closer to the hole, the fluid flows faster in all those directions. However, as we move towards the equator along the meridional direction, the radial inflow becomes stronger from both the speed and the mass accretion rate points of view. Nonetheless, the vertical (meridional) speed and the rotation of the plasma disc become slower in that direction. Due to the presence of pressure gradient forces, a sub-Keplerian angular momentum distribution throughout the thick disc is expected as well. To get a concise analytical form of the rate of accretion, we assume that the radial dependency of radial and meridional fluid velocities is the same. This simplifying assumption leads to radial independency of mass accretion rate. The motion of the accreting plasma produces an azimuthal current whose strength is specified based on the strength of the external dipolar magnetic field. This current generates a poloidal magnetic field in the disc which is continuous across the disc boundary surface due to the presence of the finite resistivity for the plasma. The gas in the disc is vertically supported not only by the gas pressure but also by the magnetic pressure.

Many intermediate polars are hard X-ray sources. The theory of their hard X-ray radiation is well developed and allows us to determine white dwarf masse in this kind of cataclysmic variables. Here we present the results of determination the masses of 35 white dwarfs in the intermediate polars observed by observatories NuSTAR (10 sources) and Swift/BAT (25 sources). The corresponding mass accrerion rates and the luminosity function were also derived due to accurate distance to the sources well known now after Gaia DR2.

Understanding the ionizing spectrum of low-metallicity galaxies is of great importance for modeling and interpreting emission line observations of early/distant galaxies.

Although a wide suite of stellar evolution, atmosphere, population synthesis, and photoionization models, taking many physical processes into account now exist, all models face a common problem: the inability to explain the presence of nebular Heii emission, which is observed in many low metallicity galaxies, both in UV and optical spectra. Several possible explanations have been proposed in the literature, including Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, binaries, very massive stars, X-ray sources, or shocks. However, none has so far been able to explain the major observations.

We briefly discuss the He ii problem, available empirical data, and observed trends combining X-ray, optical and other studies. We present a simple and consistent physical model showing that X-ray binaries could explain the long-standing nebular Heii problem. Our model, described in Schaerer et al. (2019), successfully explains the observed trends and strength of nebular He ii emission in large samples of low metallicity galaxies and in individual galaxies, which have been studied in detail and with multi-wavelength observations. Our results have in particular important implications for the interpretation of galaxy spectra in the early Universe, which will be obtained with upcoming and future facilities.

Observations of star-forming galaxies in the distant Universe have confirmed the importance of massive stars in shaping galaxy emission and evolution. Distant stellar populations are unresolved, and the limited data available must be interpreted in the context of stellar population models. Understanding these populations, and their evolution with age and heavy element content is key to interpreting processes such as supernovae, cosmic reionization and the chemical enrichment of the Universe. With the upcoming launch of JWST and observations of galaxies within a billion years of the Big Bang, the uncertainties in modelling massive stars - particularly their interactions with binary companions - are becoming increasingly important to our interpretation of the high redshift Universe. In turn, observations of distant stellar populations provide ever stronger tests against which to gauge the success of, and flaws in, current massive star models. Here we briefly review the current status binary stellar population synthesis.

The features and make up of the population of X-ray sources in Galactic star clusters reflect the properties of the underlying stellar environment. Cluster age, mass, stellar encounter rate, binary frequency, metallicity, and maybe other properties as well, determine to what extent we can expect a contribution to the cluster X-ray emission from low-mass X-ray binaries, millisecond pulsars, cataclysmic variables, and magnetically active binaries. Sensitive X-ray observations withXMM-Newton and certainlyChandra have yielded new insights into the nature of individual sources and the effects of dynamical encounters. They have also provided a new perspective on the collective X-ray properties of clusters, in which the X-ray emissivities of globular clusters and old open clusters can be compared to each other and to those of other environments. I will review our current understanding of cluster X-ray sources, focusing on star clusters older than about 1 Gyr, illustrated with recent results.

The formation of Low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB) is favored within dense stellar systems such as Globular Clusters (GCs). The connection between LMXB and Globular Clusters has been extensively studied in the literature, but these studies have always been restricted to the innermost regions of galaxies. We present a study of LMXB in GCs within the central 1.5 deg2 of the Fornax cluster with the aim of confirming the existence of a population of LMXB in intra-cluster GCs and understand if their properties are related to the host GCs, to the environment or/and to different formation channels.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory has detected relatively hard X-ray emission from the central stars of several planetary nebulae (PNe). A subset has no known late-type companions, making it very difficult to isolate which of several competing mechanisms may be producing the X-ray emission. The central star of NGC 2392 is one of the most vexing members, with substantial indirect evidence for a hot white dwarf (WD) companion. Here we report on the results of a radial velocity (RV) monitoring campaign of its central star with the HERMES échelle spectrograph of the Flemish 1.2 m Mercator telescope. We discover a single-lined spectroscopic binary with an orbital period of 1.902208 ± 0.000013 d and an RV semi-amplitude of 9.96 ± 0.13 km s−1. The high degree of nebula ionisation requires a WD companion (M ≳ 0.6M⊙), which the mass-function supports at orbital inclinations ≲ 7°, in agreement with the nebula orientation of 9°. The hard component of the X-ray spectrum may be explained by the companion accreting mass from the wind of the Roche lobe filling primary, while the softer component may be due to colliding winds. A companion with a stronger wind than the primary could produce the latter and would be consistent with models of the observed diffuse X-ray emission detected in the nebula. The diffuse X-rays may also be powered by the jets of up to 180 km s−1, and active accretion would imply that they may be the first active jets of a post-common-envelope PN, potentially making NGC 2392 an invaluable laboratory to study jet formation physics. The 1.9 d orbital period rules out a double-degenerate merger leading to a Type Ia supernova, and the weak wind of the primary likely also precludes a single-degenerate scenario. We suggest that a hard X-ray spectrum, in the absence of a late-type companion, could be a powerful tool to identify accreting WD companions.

The properties of interstellar dust (ID) can be studied in great detail by making use of X-ray spectroscopy techniques. The radiation of X-rays sources is scattered and absorbed by dust grains in the interstellar medium. The X-ray band is especially suitable to study silicates - one of the main components of ID -since it contains the absorption edges of Si, Mg, O and Fe. In the Galaxy, we can use absorption features in the spectra of X-ray binaries to study the size distribution, composition and crystalline structure of grains. In order to derive these properties, it is necessary to acquire a database of detailed extinction cross sections models, that reflects the composition of the dust in the interstellar medium. We present the extinction profiles of a set of newly acquired measurements of 14 dust analogues at the Soleil Synchrotron facility in Paris, where we focus on silicates and the Si-K edge in particular, which is modelled with unprecedented accuracy. These models are used to analyse ID in the dense environments of the Galaxy.