About Us
MSU-UM High Energy Interchange Talk Program
The Michigan State University - University of Michigan High Energy Interchange Talk Program is held on select Fridays. The talks switch between Michigan State and the University of Michigan. Lectures held at UofM are held at noon in the owl room (845 Dennison building).
Maps and directions to the department.
For more information contact Renato Dupke.
Members of the UM Department of Astronomy who wish tp schedule time to meet with the speaker from MSU should contact Jimmy Irwin.
| Current And Upcoming Events | ||
| Date, Time and Location | Speaker | Abstract |
| Recent talks | ||
| Date, Time and Location | Speaker | Abstract |
| Wed, Jan 21 2009 12:00 pm 1400 BPS | Mark Reynolds U of M Astronomy | Title: X-ray Binary Systems The importance of X-ray binary systems (XRBs) is twofold. On the one- hand they allow us to investigate questions of purely astrophysical importance (e.g. stellar evolution, accretion physics), while at the same time providing testbeds for fundamental physics complementary to earth based experiments (i.e. ultra-dense matter, General Relativity tests). A large number of X-ray binaries have been detected in the Galaxy (> 300), consisting of both low-mass and high-mass systems containing black hole and neutron star primaries. Point sources of X-rays have also been detected in external galaxies, where the X-ray emission is dominated by XRBs, and have been found to exhibit similar characteristics, as a population, to those observed in the Milky Way. In this talk, I will present our efforts to measure the masses of the compact object in these systems. Further observations which aim to reveal the nature of the accretion flow in these X-ray binary systems will also be discussed. |
