  White dwarfs, neutron stars and stellar mass black holes are key laboratories
to study matter in most extreme conditions of gravity and magnetic field. The
unprecedented effective area of Athena+ will allow us to advance our
understanding of emission mechanisms and accretion physics over a wide range of
mass accretion rates, starting from lower and sub-luminous quiescent X-ray
binaries up to super-Eddington ultra-luminous sources. Athena+ will measure
stellar black hole spins in a much higher number of binaries than achievable
now, opening the possibility to study how spin varies with black hole history.
The high throughput and energy resolution of the X-IFU will be instrumental in
establishing how disc wind properties depend on accretion state, in determining
wind launching mechanism and in quantifying the impact of the wind induced mass
loss on binary evolution and environment. Triggers and high quality optical and
radio data originating from large wide field contemporaneous instruments will
provide essential complementary information on jet launching mechanisms and on
the physics of rotation powered pulsars, for instance. In addition, Athena+
will furnish multiple, independent measurements of the neutron star mass/radius
relation in a wide range of environments and conditions so as to constrain the
debated equation of state.
