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N.S. Schulz, H.L. Marshall, A. Levine, W. Cui, D. Dewey, C.R. Canizares (MIT/CSR)
We present high resolution X-ray spectra of a variety of X-ray binaries observed with the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) onboard the Chandra X-ray observatory. The HETGS performs X-ray spectroscopy with a resolving power of up to 1200 in the 1.6 to 30 Angstrom band With its spectral resolving power Chandra entered a new era of observing astrophysical high-energy density plasmas. So far we observed the low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) 4U 1636-53, Cyg X-2, GX 349+2, as well as the high mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) Cyg X-1, Vela X-1, and GX 301-2. We present observed emission and absorption line features, identify signatures of photoionized as well as collisionally ionized plasmas and discuss the results in terms of the possible origin of the line emission as well as in the context of the various accretion scenarios in LMXBs and HMXBs.