35 research outputs found
Young neutron stars with soft gamma ray emission and anomalous X-ray pulsar
The observational properties of Soft Gamma Repeaters and Ano\-malous X-ray
Pulsars (SGR/AXP) indicate to necessity of the energy source different from a
rotational energy of a neutron star. The model, where the source of the energy
is connected with a magnetic field dissipation in a highly magnetized neutron
star (magnetar) is analyzed. Some observational inconsistencies are indicated
for this interpretation. The alternative energy source, connected with the
nuclear energy of superheavy nuclei stored in the nonequilibrium layer of low
mass neutron star is discussed.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, Springer International Publishing Switzerland
2016 A.W. Alsabti, P. Murdin (eds.), Handbook of Supernova
An apparently normal gamma-ray burst with an unusually low luminosity
Much of progress in gamma-ray bursts has come from the studies of distant
events (redshift z~1). The brightest GRBs are the most collimated events and
seen across the Universe due to their brilliance. It has long been suspected
that nearest (and most common) events have been missed because they are not so
collimated or under-energetic or both. Here we report soft gamma-ray
observations of GRB 031203, the nearest event to date (z=0.106). This event
with a duration of 40 s and peak energy of >190 keV appears to be a typical
long duration GRB. However, the isotropic gamma-ray energy <~10^50 erg, about
three orders of magnitude smaller than the cosmological population. This event
as well as the other nearby but somewhat controversial event GRB 980425 are
clear outliers for the much discussed isotropic-energy peak-energy relation and
luminosity spectral-lag relations. Radio calorimetry shows that both these
events are under-energetic explosions. We conclude that there does indeed exist
a large population of under-energetic events.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
X-ray emission from isolated neutron stars
X-ray emission is a common feature of all varieties of isolated neutron stars
(INS) and, thanks to the advent of sensitive instruments with good
spectroscopic, timing, and imaging capabilities, X-ray observations have become
an essential tool in the study of these objects. Non-thermal X-rays from young,
energetic radio pulsars have been detected since the beginning of X-ray
astronomy, and the long-sought thermal emission from cooling neutron star's
surfaces can now be studied in detail in many pulsars spanning different ages,
magnetic fields, and, possibly, surface compositions. In addition, other
different manifestations of INS have been discovered with X-ray observations.
These new classes of high-energy sources, comprising the nearby X-ray Dim
Isolated Neutron Stars, the Central Compact Objects in supernova remnants, the
Anomalous X-ray Pulsars, and the Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters, now add up to
several tens of confirmed members, plus many candidates, and allow us to study
a variety of phenomena unobservable in "standard'' radio pulsars.Comment: Chapter to be published in the book of proceedings of the 1st Sant
Cugat Forum on Astrophysics, "ICREA Workshop on the high-energy emission from
pulsars and their systems", held in April, 201
GEOTAIL observation of the SGR1806-20 Giant Flare: The first 600 ms
On December 27, 2004, plasma particle detectors on the GEOTAIL spacecraft
detected an extremely strong signal of hard X-ray photons from the giant flare
of SGR1806-20, a magnetar candidate. While practically all gamma-ray detectors
on any satellites were saturated during the first ~500 ms interval after the
onset, one of the particle detectors on GEOTAIL was not saturated and provided
unique measurements of the hard X-ray intensity and the profile for the first
600 ms interval with 5.48 ms time resolution. After ~50 ms from the initial
rapid onset, the peak photon flux (integrated above ~50 keV) reached the order
of 10^7 photons sec^{-1} cm^{-2}. Assuming a blackbody spectrum with kT=175
keV, we estimate the peak energy flux to be 21 erg sec^{-1} cm^{-2} and the
fluence (for 0-600 ms) to be 2.4 erg cm^{-2}. The implied energy release
comparable to the magnetic energy stored in a magnetar (~10^{47} erg) suggests
an extremely efficient energy release mechanism.Comment: 6 pages, 2 color figures, submitted to Natur
An X-ray Pulsar with a Superstrong Magnetic Field in the Soft Gamma-Ray Repeater SGR1806-20
Soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) emit multiple, brief (approximately O.1 s) intense outbursts of low-energy gamma-rays. They are extremely rare; three are known in our galaxy and one in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Two SGRs are associated with young supernova remnants (SNRs), and therefore most probably with neutron stars, but it remains a puzzle why SGRs are so different from 'normal' radio pulsars. Here we report the discovery of pulsations in the persistent X-ray flux of SGR1806-20, with a period of 7.47 s and a spindown rate of 2.6 x 10(exp -3) s/yr. We argue that the spindown is due to magnetic dipole emission and find that the pulsar age and (dipolar) magnetic field strength are approximately 1500 years and 8 x 10(exp 14) gauss, respectively. Our observations demonstrate the existence of 'magnetars', neutron stars with magnetic fields about 100 times stronger than those of radio pulsars, and support earlier suggestions that SGR bursts are caused by neutron-star 'crust-quakes' produced by magnetic stresses. The 'magnetar' birth rate is about one per millenium, a substantial fraction of that of radio pulsars. Thus our results may explain why some SNRs have no radio pulsars
Strongly magnetized pulsars: explosive events and evolution
Well before the radio discovery of pulsars offered the first observational
confirmation for their existence (Hewish et al., 1968), it had been suggested
that neutron stars might be endowed with very strong magnetic fields of
-G (Hoyle et al., 1964; Pacini, 1967). It is because of their
magnetic fields that these otherwise small ed inert, cooling dead stars emit
radio pulses and shine in various part of the electromagnetic spectrum. But the
presence of a strong magnetic field has more subtle and sometimes dramatic
consequences: In the last decades of observations indeed, evidence mounted that
it is likely the magnetic field that makes of an isolated neutron star what it
is among the different observational manifestations in which they come. The
contribution of the magnetic field to the energy budget of the neutron star can
be comparable or even exceed the available kinetic energy. The most magnetised
neutron stars in particular, the magnetars, exhibit an amazing assortment of
explosive events, underlining the importance of their magnetic field in their
lives. In this chapter we review the recent observational and theoretical
achievements, which not only confirmed the importance of the magnetic field in
the evolution of neutron stars, but also provide a promising unification scheme
for the different observational manifestations in which they appear. We focus
on the role of their magnetic field as an energy source behind their persistent
emission, but also its critical role in explosive events.Comment: Review commissioned for publication in the White Book of
"NewCompStar" European COST Action MP1304, 43 pages, 8 figure
Optical and infrared flares from a transient Galactic soft gamma-ray repeater
Soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) are a rare type of gamma-ray transient
sources that are ocasionally detected as bursts in the high-energy sky. They
are thought to be produced by magnetars, young neutron stars with very strong
magnetic fields of the order of 10^(14-15) G. Only three such objects are known
in our Galaxy, and a fourth one is associated with the supernova remnant N49 in
the Large Magellanic Cloud. In none of these cases has an optical counterpart
to either the gamma-ray flares or the quiescent source been identified. Here we
present multi-wavelength observations of a puzzling source, SWIFT
J195509+261406, for which we detected more than 40 flaring episodes in the
optical band over a time span of 3 days, plus a faint infrared flare 11 days
later, after which it returned to quiescence. We propose that SWIFT
J195509+261406 is a member of a subgroup of SGRs for which the long-term X-ray
emission is transient in nature. Furthermore, it is the first SGR for which
bursts have been detected in the optical and near-infrared bands and maybe the
link between the "persistent" SGRs and the dim isolated neutron stars.Comment: Version submitted to Nature on 31 Jan 2008. A substantially revised
version of this work has been published in Nature, vol. 455 issue 7212 pp
506-509 under the title "Flares from a Galactic magnetar suggest a missing
link to dim isolated neutron stars