2025/04/05 by N. G. Beskrovnaya, N. Beskrovnaya, N. R. Ikhsanov +3 · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Binary number #Binary star #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Mathematics #Mechanics and Biomechanics Studies #Neutron star #Physics #Pulsar #Stars #Stellar evolution #Stellar mass loss #Stellar wind #X-ray binary #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/galaxies13020037
openalex publication_date 2025/04/05 · arxiv published 2025/05/05 · arxiv updated 2025/05/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The process of mass exchange between the components of High-Mass X-ray Binary (HMXB) systems with neutron stars undergoing wind-fed accretion is discussed. The X-ray luminosity of these systems allows us to evaluate the mass capture rate by the neutron star from the stellar wind of its massive companion and set limits on the relative velocity between the neutron star and the wind. We found that the upper limit to the wind velocity in the orbital plane during the high state of the X-ray source is in the range of 120–1000 kms−1, which is by a factor of 2–4 lower than both the terminal wind velocity and the speed of the wind flowing out from the polar regions of massive stars for all the objects under investigation. This finding is valid not only for the systems with Be stars, but also for the systems in which the optical components do not exhibit the Be phenomenon. We also show that the lower limit to the radial wind velocity in these systems can unlikely be smaller than a few percent of the orbital velocity of the neutron star. This provides us with a new constraint on the mass transfer process in the outflowing disks of Be-type stars.