Joint Astrophysical Colloquium
Multi-wavelength studies of of X-ray binaries: accretion and feedback around stellar-mass compact objects
Sara Motta (INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera)
Thursday 19/01/2023 @ 14:00, Sala IV piano Battiferro + remoto *Please note unusual time*
The inflow of matter onto astronomical objects is connected to the generation of outflows throughout the Universe on a variety of scales, from proto-planetary disks, to merging neutron star systems and gamma ray bursts, to stellar mass and supermassive black holes. The matter inflow/outflow processes scale predictably with mass, and proceeds according to the same basic principles around all collapsed objects. Super-massive black holes have driven the evolution of galaxies and regulated star formation through accretion and feedback. In accreting binaries - the low-mass counterparts of super-massive black holes - a stellar mass black hole or a neutron star feeds from an accretion disc that is formed by the material stripped from a stellar companion. I will give an overview of the phenomenology ascribed to the accretion process and to the generation of outflows in low-mass X-ray binaries, and I will show how these processes can be understood only if studied together. I will also demonstrate that the study of fast-time variability of accreting binaries constitutes an invaluable tool that allows to probe the physics underlying the disc-jet coupling in ways inaccessible to other analysis techniques. While the focus of this talk will be on black hole systems, I will also show how neutron stars are ideal laboratories to study the accretion-ejection processes.