X-ray binaries are some of the most varied and perplexing systems known to astronomers. The compact object which accretes mass from its companion star may be a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole, whereas the donor star can be a 'normal' star or a white dwarf. The various combinations differ widely in their behaviour, and this timely volume provides a unique reference of our knowledge to date of all of them.Fifteen specially written chapters by a team of the world's foremost researchers in the field explore all aspects of the X-ray binaries. They cover the X-ray, ultraviolet, optical and radio properties of these violent systems and address key issues such as: how were these systems formed, and what will be their fate; how can we understand X-ray bursts, and how the quasi-periodic oscillations; what is the connection between millisecond radio pulsars and low-mass X-ray binaries; and how does the magnetic field of a neutron star decay?This long awaited review provides graduate students and researchers with the standard reference on X-ray binaries for many years to come.

Technological advances in X-ray astronomy have recently led to the discovery of a large number of previously undetected accreting binaries, increasing by an order of magnitude their known population in the Galaxy. This meeting addressed the current state of observational and theoretical research into the X-ray binary population as a whole, including both well-studied systems and the newly discovered populations, and examined the interaction of X-ray binaries with their environment within our own Galaxy and in external galaxies.

In this thesis, I present work from three separate research projects associated with observations of X-ray binaries. Two of those revolve around spectral characteristics of neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries (NS-LMXBs), with a particular source, XTE J1701-462, playing a central role. First, I construct and study color-color and hardness-intensity diagrams (CDs and HIDs) for a large sample of NS-LMXBs using Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) data spanning ~15 years. I study in particular detail three sources whose complicated CDs/HIDs are strongly affected by secular motion -- Cyg X-2, Cir X-1, and GX 13+1 -- and show that Cyg X-2 and Cir X-1 display CD/HID evolution with strong similarities to the transient Z source XTE J1701-462, which was previously shown to have evolved through all subclasses of NS-LMXBs as a result of changes in mass accretion rate. I build on the results for XTE J1701-462, Cyg X-2, and Cir X-1 and rank all the sources in the sample based only on their CD/HID morphology. I speculate that this represents a rough ranking in terms of the relative ranges in mass accretion rate experienced by the sources. Next, I use data from RXTE, Swift, Chandra, and XMM-Newton to study the transition to quiescence and the first ~1200 days of the quiescent phase of XTE J1701-462 following the end of its extraordinarily luminous 19 month outburst in 2006-2007. I find that the crust of the neutron star cooled rapidly during the first ~200 days of quiescence, after having been heated out of thermal equilibrium with the core during the outburst; the source has subsequently shown slower cooling along with sporadic low-level accretion activity. I discuss the implications of the observed cooling behavior and low-level accretion, the former of which yields information on the internal properties of the neutron star. Finally, I use multiple Chandra observations to study the X-ray source populations in the late-type galaxies NGC 6946 and NGC 4485/4490. A particular emphasis is placed on investigating the long-term variability of the sources, several of which are ultraluminous. I present detailed source catalogs and characterize the populations -- which consist primarily of X-ray binaries -- using X-ray luminosity functions and CDs.

Technological advances in X-ray astronomy have recently led to the discovery of a large number of previously undetected accreting binaries, increasing by an order of magnitude their known population in the Galaxy. This meeting addressed the current state of observational and theoretical research into the X-ray binary population as a whole, including both well-studied systems and the newly discovered populations, and examined the interaction of X-ray binaries with their environment within our own Galaxy and in external galaxies.

Portions of this work were performed in collaboration with Drs. M. Wolff and K. Wood of the Naval Research Laboratory. We are engaged in a long-term project to develop numerical models for the high-speed variability seen in the energy output of the x-ray binary systems, in general, arid for the white dwarf x-ray binary systems known as the AM Herculis objects (from hereon the AM Her objects), in particular, and to develop modern tools for the analysis of time series data.