The Neutron Star—Black Hole Connection

Set against the background of beautiful Mirabello Bay, astronomers from fourteen countries met at Elounda, Crete in the period 7-18June, 1999 to debate some of the most compelling issues of present day astrophysics. Neutron stars and black holes have been at the forefront of astrophysics for over thirty years. As recently as ten years ago it was still being debated whether galactic stellar-mass black holes existed or not.It is now generally accepted that many (possibly a thousand) stellar-mass black holes - most of them still undetected - lie in low mass X-ray binary (LMXB) systems; a few of them are detected every year as X-ray or gamma-ray transients. These objects are more massive than 3 M , the maximum possible mass 0 for a neutron star, and show none of the tell-tale signs of neutron stars, such as X-ray bursts and X-ray pulsations. It is quite remarkable that all LMXBs display a similar temporal and spectral behaviour,'independently of whether the accreting compact object is a neutron star or a black hole. A broad debate on these similarities and differences naturally constituted one of the main focal points during the Elounda meeting. Evidence on these aspects has been forthcoming from the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory (CGRO) , the ROSAT and ASCA satellites, the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), and from the Beppo­ SAX Observatory.

Table of Contents:
1. Radio Pulsars and Neutron Stars.- Radio Pulsars — an Observer’s Perspective.- Neutron Star Birth Rates.- Kinematics of Radio Pulsars.- Superfluid Dynamics and Energy Dissipation in Neutron Stars.- Magnetic Fields of Neutron Stars.- 2. The Neutron Star — Black Hole Connection.- Neutron Star and Black Hole Formation.- Coalescence Rates of Compact Objects.- The Final Fate of Coalesing Compact Binaries: From Black Hole to Planet Formation.- 3. Accretion Discs.- Accretion Discs.- Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Discs.- Inner Region of Accretion Flows onto Black Holes.- 4. Neutron stars and Black Holes in Binaries.- Neutron Stars and Black Holes in Binary Systems: Observational Properties.- Formation and Evolution of Neutron Stars and Black Holes in Binary Systems.- Transient Low-Mass X-ray Binaries in Quiescence.- A Comparison of Radio Emission from Neutron Star and Black Hole X-ray Binaries.- Black Hole and Neutron Star Jet Sources.- Bulk-Flow Comptonization and Time Lags due to Comptonization.- GRS 1915+105 as a Black Hole Accretion Disc Laboratory.- Weighing Black Holes with the Largest Optical Telescopes.- Physics of Plasma Outflows.- Timing the Kiloherz Quasi-periodic Oscillations in LMXR Binaries.- Modeling the Time Variability of Black Hole Candidates.- Relativistic Models of kHz QPOs.- Phenomenology of the 35 day Cycle.- Spin-Orbit Coupling in X-ray Binaries.- High Mass Black Holes in Soft X-ray Transients.- 5. Magnetars.- Anomalous X-ray Pulsars.- Astrophysics of the Soft Gamma Repeaters and the Anomalous X-ray Pulsars.- Neutron Star Envelopes and Thermal Radiation from the Magnetic Surface.- 6. Gamma-ray Bursts.- Gamma-ray Bursts: History and Observations.- The Afterglow of Gamma-ray Bursts: Light on the Mystery.- Gamma-ray Bursts and Afterglows: TheFireball Shock Model.- Gamma-ray Bursts from Neutron Stars Spun up in X-ray Binaries.- 7. New Experiments.- The Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO).- Author Index.- Object Index.