Speaker
Description
X-ray binaries are accreting stellar-mass black hole and neutron star systems, which are known to launch relativistic jets. Transient X-ray binaries undergo sporadic outbursts in which the accretion rate and jet power both rise by orders of magnitude, occasionally reaching or exceeding the Eddington accretion rate. These spectacular outbursts make good potential targets for CTA observations. The recent discovery of TeV gamma-rays from downstream in the jets of the rapidly-accreting system SS 433 demonstrates that X-ray binaries can in principle accelerate particles to very high energies. However, high-energy gamma-ray detections have been sparse, and previously limited to just two systems with high-mass donor stars. In this talk I will provide an overview of X-ray binaries and their jets, and review previous efforts to detect them at (very) high energy gamma-ray energies. I will outline how Australian facilities are being used to study these systems, and discuss potential synergies with CTA.
