  We present a comparison of the results of the ASCA survey of LMXB with the
Inogamov and Sunyaev theory of accretion flow spreading on the surface of
neutron stars. The ASCA survey of LMXB of Church and Balucinska-Church (2001)
revealed a systematic variation of the luminosity of blackbody emission from
the neutron star spanning 3 decades in total X-ray luminosity suggesting that
the level of blackbody emission is controlled by the physics of the inner
disk/stellar interface, which we can hope to understand. Two types of
explanation exist: firstly that there is radial flow between the inner disk and
star at all vertical positions above the orbital plane so that the height of
the disk directly determines the area of star emitting. Secondly, the height of
the emitting region on the star is not directly related to the disk properties
but depends on the mass accretion rate as suggested by Inogamov and Sunyaev
(1999) in their theory of accretion flow spreading on the stellar surface. We
find that the survey results for the emitting area agree with this theory at
the lowest luminosities. However, for higher luminosities, the blackbody
emission is stronger than predicted by spreading theory suggesting that the
emitting area is controlled by radial flow between disk and star.
