Research Area

X-ray Binaries (XRBs)

My main research interest centres on XRBs, of which there are various classes.  One of the binary pair is a compact object, otherwise known as a stellar remnant, which may be either a black hole, a neutron star or a white dwarf.  Its binary companion is a fusion-powered conventional star from which the compact object is accreting matter in an energetic process that is very bright in X-rays.

These systems are often said to provide remote laboratories for the study of the behaviour of matter in extreme gravitational fields and for the testing of general relativity.