MINBAR: A comprehensive study of 6000+ thermonuclear shell flashes from neutron stars

Thermonuclear (type-I) X-ray bursts have been observed from accreting neutron stars since the early 1970s. These events serve as a valuable diagnostic tool to constrain the source distance; accretion rate; accreted fuel composition, and hence evolutionary status of the donor; and even the neutron star mass and radius.

Additionally, large samples of bursts can serve to test models describing ignition and burning, and hence constrain the nuclear processes taking place. The Multi-INstrument Burst ARchive (MINBAR) is an effort to combine large samples of burst observations from BeppoSAX/WFC, RXTE/PCA, and INTEGRAL/JEM-X.

We have searched observations of the approximately 100- known X-ray burst sources, and have accumulated more than 6000 events from 83 sources over the past 20 years. We describe the assembly of the catalogue, the analysis procedures, and the science outcomes and prospects. Notable results so far include a systematic analysis of short recurrence time bursts; evidence for accretion rate variation during bursts; studies of the burst behaviour of new transients; and long-duration bursts including super bursts.