Unusual Burst Emission from the New Soft Gamma Repeater SGR1627-41

In June-July,1998 the Konus-Wind burst spectrometer observed a series of bursts from the new soft gamma repeater SGR1627-41. Time histories and energy spectra of the bursts have been studied, revealing fluences and peak fluxes in the ranges of 3x10^{-7} - 7.5x10^{-6} erg cm^{-2} and 10^{-5} - 10^{-4}erg cm^{-2}/s respectively. One event, 18 June 6153.5sUT stands out dramatically from this series. Its fluence is ~7x10^{-4} erg cm^{-2} and peak flux ~2x10^{-2} erg cm^{-2}/s. These values from a source at a distance of 5.8 kpc yield an energy output of ~3x10^{42}erg and maximum luminosity of ~8x10^{43} erg/s, similar to the values for the famous March 5, 1979 and August27,1998 events. In terms of energy, this event is another giant outburst seen in a third SGR! However, this very energetic burst differs significantly from the other giant outbursts. It exhibits no separate initial pulse with a fast rise time, no extended tail, and no pulsations. It is rather similar to ordinary repeated bursts but is a few hundred times stronger in intensity. According to the magnetar model by Thompson and Duncan (1995) such a burst may be initiated by a strong starquake when a crust fracture propagates over the whole surface of a neutron star.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. To be appeared in ApJ

On the Fast Spectral Variability of GRBs

Fast spectral variability of gamma-ray burst emission is considered for a number of events seen by the Konus-Wind experiment. The variability manifests itself as a strong correlation between instantaneous energy flux $F$ and peak energy $E_p$. In the ($F,E_p$) plane, the correlation produces distinct tracks in the form of branches and loops representing the different parts of a burst time history. Despite the variety of features seen in different events, the main characteristics of the spectral evolution produce a quite consistent pattern.Comment: 3 pages with 2 figures; to appear in the Proceedings of the workshop "Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Afterglow Era: 2nd Workshop", held in Rome, October 17-20, 200

A Stimulus to High Quality (Instructive Economic Experiment at Sverdlovsk Plants)

The strength of our economic system lies in the unity of interests of the state and the enterprise, of the entire collective and each working person. However, economic conditions still exist that restrain the initiative of staffs in the struggle to improve the quality of output.