Formation, evolution and environment of high-mass X-ray binaries

High-Mass X-ray Binaries are interacting binary systems composed of a compact object orbiting an O/B massive star. These objects are deeply studied with the aim of understanding accretion and ejection processes around compact objects. Recent studies claim that most of the Galactic massive stars do not live alone and suffer from mass transfer during their life. Therefore, understanding the HMXB evolution and their interaction with the close environment allows to better understand not only the evolution of massive binary stars, possible progenitors of gamma-ray bursts and gravitational waves emitters during their coalescence, but also to correctly characterize the faraway galaxies. How do these sources evolve? Where are they located in the Galaxy? What are their principal properties? What is the influence of their environment? What is their impact on the interstellar medium? This thesis aims at shedding some light on these questions, by adopting two complementary approaches: a statistical study of the Galactic population of HMXB and on another hand a multi-wavelength study of individual sources. The first part of this thesis introduces the main characteristics of massive stars. Their evolution and the observational features are described. We also present the main observational and theoretical properties of HMXB together with the multi-wavelength approach used in this work. With the aim of better understanding the stellar evolution and the connections between compact objects and supernovae or gamma-ray bursts, it is of major interest to understand where these compact objects are born. Thus, the second part details the statistical study carried out on the Galactic HMXB population. Thanks to a uniform approach based on spectral energy distribution fitting, we determine, for the first time, the distance of 46 HMXB into the Milky Way with an accurate uncertainties estimation. Then, we present the distribution of these sources in the Galaxy and we show that a correlation between the HMXB spatial distribution and the star forming regions distribution exists, making the HMXB a good tracer of star formation. This study also allow us to constrain the evolution of thirteen binary systems, precisely their age and migration distance due to the supernova explosion. The third part reports the results of a near-infrared observing campaign dedicated to the identification of new HMXB in the INTEGRAL data. We present the infrared observation constraints and the observational strategy used during these observations carried out at La Silla Observatory. Then, we show the results that led to the spectral identification of thirteen HMXB. We complete these results by characterizing the close environment of three of them. We also update the HMXB population statistics and we explain how these new discoveries challenge population synthesis models. Finally, we suggest some clues that may bring back together observations and models. Understanding the structure of the HMXB environment is crucial since it can reflect the evolution of the binary system and the influence of the compact object. We show in the fourth part how the Herschel satellite has opened a new window on the HMXB study, allowing, for the first time, the study of an HMXB in far-infrared. We focus on GX 301-2, a massive X-ray binary composed of a neutron star orbiting an hyper-giant star. We show that the matter surrounding the binary system is disk-shaped and we compare these results with those obtained for other HMXB. This enables to begin studying their evolution through the analysis of their close environment. In another hand, we show that GX 301-2 is likely interacting with the interstellar medium and we suggest new constraints on the system evolution, brought by these novel observations, coupled with archival data, from the optical to the radio domain. Finally, we close this manuscript by giving a conclusion and bringing short and long term perspectives. (author)