Robert Hynes: Multiwavelength Observations of Neutron Star Transients

Rob took us away from the X-ray, and discussed the ways in which observations in the radio, IR, optical and UV are helping us to figure out the physics of neutron star binaries. Such multi-wavelength studies are building up evidence for the presence of jets, and innovative techniques like Doppler tomography and echo-mapping are generating new constraints on binary properties including neutron star mass and the size of the orbit. He also presented exciting new evidence for optical mHz Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in 4U 0614+09 - a phenomenon that has previously only been observed in 4U 1626-67. Wrapping up, he pointed out that most multi-wavelength work so far has focused on the persistent systems. There is a lot of work to be done to extend these studies to the transient systems.