Abstract The goal of this paper is to discuss the behaviour of the X-ray binary systems, in order to present to the readers an updated panorama of this important class of X-ray sources. They have in common the binary nature, but rather different characteristics: millisecond pulsations in low mass binary systems, seconds-hundreds seconds pulsations in transient high mass X-ray systems, pulsations limited in a narrow ∼6-12s band in the enigmatic class of systems named anomalous X-ray pulsars. However, all these systems are characterized by a neutron star as collapsed object. A few words will be devoted also to those systems having a black hole as collapsed object. Some comments on radio pulsars-SNRs and X-ray pulsars-SNRs associations will be given too.
Keywords X-ray binary systems: High mass binary systems, Low mass binary systems, Radio pulsars, SNRs/X-ray pulsars association
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