High Energy Phenomena in Supergiant X-ray Binaries

TL;DR

This paper discusses the discovery and characteristics of supergiant High Mass X-ray Binaries revealed by INTEGRAL, highlighting their nature as wind-fed accretors related to massive star evolution and gamma-ray sources.

Contribution

It introduces a new population of supergiant HMXBs discovered by INTEGRAL and details their properties and evolutionary significance.

Findings

Revealed a major population of supergiant HMXBs in our Galaxy.

Showed these systems are wind-fed accretors associated with massive star-forming regions.

Linked these sources to the evolution of gamma-ray emitting massive stars.

Abstract

The INTEGRAL satellite has revealed a major population of supergiant High Mass X-ray Binaries in our Galaxy, revolutionizing our understanding of binary systems and their evolution. This population, constituted of a compact object orbiting around a massive and luminous supergiant star, exhibits unusual properties, either being extremely absorbed, or showing very short and intense flares. An intensive set of multi-wavelength observations has led us to reveal their nature, and to show that these systems are wind-fed accretors, closely related to massive star-forming regions. In this paper I describe the characteristics of these sources, showing that this newly revealed population is linked to the evolution of gamma-ray emitting massive stars with a compact companion.