A Low-Magnetic-Field Soft Gamma RepeaterPublication date: 14 Oct 2010 Authors: Rea, N., et al.
Journal: Science Express Copyright: © 2010 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Soft gamma repeaters 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 - i.e., 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 x 1012 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.
Last Update: 08 Dec 2010
|
- Missions
- Show All Missions
- Mission Home
- Summary
- Fact Sheet
- Objectives
- Orbit View
- Spacecraft
- Spacecraft
- 3D Model
- Instruments
- X-ray Mirrors
- Engineering
- Mission Operations
- Launch Vehicle
- Launch Campaign
- Orbit/Navigation
- Science Operations
- Slew Survey and Catalogue
- SOC
- Data Archive
- Resources
- News Archive
- Multimedia Gallery
- Publication Archive
- Calendar of Events
- Services
- Contact Us
- Subscribe
- Terms and Conditions
