Black hole X-ray binaries

A part of the stellar wind from a massive O- or B-type star can be gravitationally attracted by the black hole. If this infalling matter has enough angular momentum, it can form a disk around the black hole, become thermalised, and produce X-ray emission. I study the X-ray emission from these systems, as well as the later evolutionary counterparts of black holes in orbit with Wolf-Rayet stars. Identifying such systems is essential to advance our understanding of the end stages of binary evolution, which are the immediate progenitors of binary black hole binaries and can produce gravitational wave mergers if their orbital periods are sufficiently short.