TY - JOUR
T1 - A low-magnetic-field soft gamma repeater
AU - Rea, N.
AU - Esposito, P.
AU - Turolla, R.
AU - Israel, G. L.
AU - Zane, S.
AU - Stella, L.
AU - Mereghetti, S.
AU - Tiengo, A.
AU - Götz, D.
AU - Göǧü, E.
AU - Kouveliotou, C.
PY - 2010/11/12
Y1 - 2010/11/12
N2 - Soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous x-ray pulsars form a rapidly increasing group of x-ray sources exhibiting sporadic emission of short bursts. They are believed to be magnetars, that is, neutron stars powered by extreme magnetic fields, B ∼ 1014 to 1015 gauss. We report on a soft gamma repeater with low magnetic field, SGR 0418+5729, recently detected after it emitted bursts similar to those of magnetars. X-ray observations show that its dipolar magnetic field cannot be greater than 7.5 ′ 10 12 gauss, well in the range of ordinary radio pulsars, implying that a high surface dipolar magnetic field is not necessarily required for magnetar-like activity. The magnetar population may thus include objects with a wider range of B-field strengths, ages, and evolutionary stages than observed so far.
AB - Soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous x-ray pulsars form a rapidly increasing group of x-ray sources exhibiting sporadic emission of short bursts. They are believed to be magnetars, that is, neutron stars powered by extreme magnetic fields, B ∼ 1014 to 1015 gauss. We report on a soft gamma repeater with low magnetic field, SGR 0418+5729, recently detected after it emitted bursts similar to those of magnetars. X-ray observations show that its dipolar magnetic field cannot be greater than 7.5 ′ 10 12 gauss, well in the range of ordinary radio pulsars, implying that a high surface dipolar magnetic field is not necessarily required for magnetar-like activity. The magnetar population may thus include objects with a wider range of B-field strengths, ages, and evolutionary stages than observed so far.
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1196088
DO - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1196088
M3 - Article
VL - 330
SP - 944
EP - 946
ER -