Tariq Shahbaz is Staff Scientist at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Tenerife, where his research focuses on the study of compact objects, such as neutron stars and black holes. He has developed methods and computer models to predict the observed lightcurves and spectra from these systems, allowing the mass of the compact object to be determined. His other research interests include high time resolution phenomena and the study of cataclysmic variables and millisecond pulsars. He is a member of the International Astronomical Union. Jorge Casares Velázquez is Professor of Astronomy at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Tenerife and was Leverhulme Professor at the Department of Astrophysics of the University of Oxford during 2016–17. His research focuses on the study of galactic black holes, with emphasis on the determination of their dynamical masses. He has promoted novel strategies for deriving fundamental parameters in X-ray binaries and discovering hidden populations of galactic black-hole binaries. His other research interests include gamma-ray binaries, cataclysmic variables and millisecond pulsars. He is a member of the International Astronomical Union and the Spanish Astronomical Society. Teodoro Muñoz Darias is Ramón y Cajal fellow at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Tenerife. His research is focused on the study of accretion processes in accreting black holes and neutron stars in X-ray binaries. He has made significant contributions to this field by studying the evolution of the fast variability properties of these objects, aiming at building a universal scheme for the different accretion states. He is also leading important work on the discovery and characterisation of outflowing accretion disc winds, as well as on the nature and fundamental parameters of X-ray binaries. He is a member of the International Astronomical Union and the Spanish Astronomical Society.

'The book is a valuable source of information and current ideas and is to be recommended as a class text.' Elizabeth Griffin, The Observatory

• List of contributors; List of participants; Preface; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; 1. Radiation processes and models Julien Malzac; 2. HTRA instrumentation – I Philip A. Charles; 3. HTRA instrumentation – II Vikram. S. Dhillon; 4. Black-hole and neutron-star binaries Tomaso M. Belloni; 5. Radio observations of pulsars and X-ray binaries Andrea Possenti; 6. Gamma-ray sources and analysis Elizabeth C. Ferrara.