Do Accretion Disks Get Bent Out of Shape? Investigating the Origin of Rapid Fluctuations in the Tails of Long Thermonuclear X-ray Bursts

D. R. Ballantyne, N. Degenaar

Thermonuclear X-ray bursts from the surfaces of neutron stars affect the surrounding accretion flow, revealing details of the underlying physical processes influencing accretion ph…