A low-magnetic-field soft gamma repeater.
Science
; 330(6006): 944-6, 2010 Nov 12.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-20947727
ABSTRACT
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 ~ 10(14) to 10(15) 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.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Science
Year:
2010
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Spain