Speaker
Description
Accreting compact objects are the primary X-ray populations in globular clusters. Their periodic variations spanning rotational spins and orbital motions, provide essential diagnostics for identifying progenitor populations and tracing evolutionary pathways. While recent surveys of Milky Way globular clusters have established a preliminary census of these sources, offering insights into cataclysmic variable formation and exotic binaries, significant observational gaps remain in short-period systems. Unambiguously classifying these populations requires a simultaneous leap in angular resolution and timing precision, surpassing the constraints of current observatories. NewAthena deep surveys of globular and nuclear star clusters are poised to bridge this gap with its high timing resolution. By pushing detection sensitivity into the sub-second regime, NewAthena will uncover fast pulsators, including white dwarf pulsars, millisecond pulsars, and ultra-compact X-ray binaries, key potential sources of gravitational waves. This presentation demonstrates how NewAthena will transform our understanding of the most dynamic binaries in the densest stellar environments.
