An INTEGRAL view of High Mass X-ray Binaries : their nature, formation and evolution

TL;DR

This paper reviews the recent observational discoveries and theoretical models of supergiant high mass X-ray binaries, highlighting their formation, evolution, and the links between different types of HMXBs based on multi-wavelength data.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the new population of supergiant HMXBs revealed by INTEGRAL and discusses models explaining their diverse characteristics and evolutionary connections.

Findings

Discovery of a new population of supergiant HMXBs from INTEGRAL data

Proposed models of accretion explaining observed variability

Evidence for evolutionary links between Be and supergiant HMXBs

Abstract

We describe here the nature, formation and evolution of the supergiant high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) population, i.e. systems accreting the stellar wind of supergiant stars. There are now many new observations, from the high-energy side (mainly from the INTEGRAL satellite), complemented by multi-wavelength observations (mainly in the optical, near and mid-infrared from ESO facilities), showing that a new population of supergiant HMXBs has been recently revealed. We report here on the observational facts about the different categories of HMXBs, allowing to build a consistent scenario explaining the various characteristics of these sources, based on models of accretion in these sources (e.g. transitory accretion disc versus clumpy winds). We also mention new observations suggesting the existence of evolutionary links between Be and stellar wind accreting supergiant X-ray binaries.