| Abstract : | In X-ray binary systems, X-rays are produced close to the compact object due to matter accretion from the companion star. This radiation can interact with the surrounding matter to give rise to secondary radiation called reprocessed emission, which also includes emission lines. The reprocessed emission contains clues about the environment of the compact object and can help better understand the matter around the compact object, its chemical composition, ionization levels, etc. In eclipsing X-ray binary systems, during the eclipse, the direct emission of X-rays produced near the compact object are blocked by the companion star, and only reprocessed emission is observed making them ideal systems to study the reprocessed emission. Flares are observed in high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) due to increase in the rate of matter accretion onto the compact object. In neutron star (NS) low-mass X-binaries (LMXBs), X-ray bursts are observed due to unstable thermonuclear burning of accreted fuel on the surface of neutron stars. Some X-ray binaries show flaring or bursts even during the eclipse. The study of such eclipse flares and eclipse bursts gives additional clues regarding the size of the reprocessing region and also helps distinguish between different components of the X-ray spectrum observed during the eclipse. We have searched for flares during the eclipses of HMXBs in a large volume of archival X-ray data and detected eclipse flares in several HMXB sources (Vela X-1, LMC X-4 and 4U 1700-37). Similarly, we also found bursts during eclipses of a few LMXB sources (EXO 0748 676, XTE J1710−281). In this work, we compare the spectral properties of the eclipse flares and eclipse persistent emission data in HMXBs. We also do the timing study of the eclipse bursts observed in LMXBs. |
