An ``outside-in'' outburst of Aql X--1
  We present optical spectroscopy and optical and infrared photometry of the neutron star soft X-ray transient Aql X--1 during its X-ray outburst of August 1997. By modelling the X-ray, optical, and IR light curves, we find a 3 day delay between the IR and X-ray rise times, analogous to the UV-optical delay seen in dwarf novae outbursts and black hole X-ray transients. We interpret this delay as the signature of an ``outside-in'' outburst, in which a thermal instability in the outer disc propagates inward. This outburst is the first of this type definitively identified in a neutron star X-ray transient. 
T. Shahbaz (Oxford), R.M. Bandyopadhyay (Oxford), P.A. Charles   (Oxford), R.M. Wagner (Ohio State), P. Muhli (Helsinki), P....