Accretion onto magnetized neutron stars is considered using as a case study long-term X-ray and optical observations of HZ Her/Her X-1, an X-ray binary system with a 1.7-day orbital period where disc accretion occurs from the optical donor star (HZ Her) onto a neutron star (Her X-1). On top of orbital variability and pulsating X-ray emission from the neutron star rotating with a period of about one second, a 35-day X-ray modulation of emission is observed. The 35-day variability is due to a tilted precessing accretion disc that periodically screens X-ray emission from the neutron star. The disc precession that occurs in the direction opposite to the orbital motion is determined by the joint action of the tidal torque from the donor and dynamical torque from the gas streams. Several dozen thousand broadband UBV photometric observations of HZ Her have been obtained since 1972. The shape of the orbital light curves of HZ Her also changes with the 35-day cycle phase. The orbital variability can be reproduced in a model that includes a precessing tilted and warped accretion disc around a freely precessing neutron star. The disc is warped near its inner edge due to interaction with the rotating neutron star magnetosphere. The magnetic torque depends on the precessional phase of the neutron star. The X-ray emission flux from the neutron star also depends on the free precession phase that modulates the heating of the optical-star atmosphere and the intensity of gas streams. We show that this model reproduces well both optical observations of HZ Her and the behavior of the 35-day X-ray cycle.

The X-ray binary Her X-1 consists of an accreting neutron star and the optical component HZ Her. The 35-day X-ray superorbital variability of this system is known since its discovery in 1972 by the Uhuru satellite and is believed to be caused by forced precession of a warped accretion disk tilted to the orbital plane. We argue that the observed features of the 35-day optical variability of HZ Her can be explained by free precession of the neutron star with a period close to that of the forced disk. The model parameters include a) the X-ray luminosity of the neutron star; b) the optical flux from the accretion disk; c) the tilt of the inner and outer edges of the accretion disk. A possible synchronization mechanism based on the coupling between the neutron star free precession and the dynamical action of non-stationary gas streams is discussed.

Context. The rotation state of small asteroids is affected by the Yarkovsky–O’Keefe–Radzievskii–Paddack (YORP) effect, which is a net torque caused by solar radiation directly reflected and thermally reemitted from the surface. Due to this effect, the rotation period slowly changes, which can be most easily measured in light curves because the shift in the rotation phase accumulates over time quadratically. Aims. By new photometric observations of selected near-Earth asteroids, we want to enlarge the sample of asteroids with a detected YORP effect. Methods. We collected archived light curves and carried out new photometric observations for asteroids (10115) 1992 SK, (1620) Geographos, and (1685) Toro. We applied the method of light curve inversion to fit observations with a convex shape model. The YORP effect was modeled as a linear change of the rotation frequency υ ≡ dω∕dt and optimized together with other spin and shape parameters. Results. We detected the acceleration υ = (8.3 ± 0.6) × 10−8 rad d−2 of the rotation for asteroid (10115) 1992 SK. This observed value agrees well with the theoretical value of YORP-induced spin-up computed for our shape and spin model. For (1685) Toro, we obtained υ = (3.3 ± 0.3) × 10−9 rad d−2, which confirms an earlier tentative YORP detection. For (1620) Geographos, we confirmed the previously detected YORP acceleration and derived an updated value of υ with a smaller uncertainty. We also included the effect of solar precession into our inversion algorithm, and we show that there are hints of this effect in Geographos’ data. Conclusions. The detected change of the spin rate of (10115) 1992 SK has increased the total number of asteroids with YORP detection to ten. In all ten cases, the dω∕dt value is positive, so the rotation of these asteroids is accelerated. It is unlikely to be just a statistical fluke, but it is probably a real feature that needs to be explained.

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