Models for compact x-ray sources

A statistical analysis of the UHURU catalogue of X-ray sources leads to the following conclusions. If the weak sources are omitted, there is a strong concentration to low galactic latitude but the absence of a strong background and the presence of some strong sources at low galactic longitude indicate an appreciable number of sources of luminosity L ∼ 10 4 L ⊙ in the vicinity of the 'nuclear bulge'. This region generally suggests 'stellar population II' and therefore stars of small mass. However, there is some suggestion of a second class of sources, distributed in the galactic plane like 'stellar population I' and suggesting large stellar masses. There are three possible types of simple X-ray spectra, (a) optically thin bremsstrahlung, (b) black-body spectrum, and (c) power-law spectra. In this talk only theoretical models for type (a) are reviewed, including accretion, rotation and vibration for a white dwarf star and cocoons around a neutron star.