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Open AccessJournal ArticleDOI

The strongest cosmic magnets: soft gamma-ray repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars

Sandro Mereghetti
- 08 Jul 2008 - 
- Vol. 15, Iss: 4, pp 225-287
Abstract
Two classes of X-ray pulsars, the anomalous X-ray pulsars and the soft gamma-ray repeaters, have been recognized in the last decade as the most promising candidates for being magnetars: isolated neutron stars powered by magnetic energy. I review the observational properties of these objects, focussing on the most recent results, and their interpretation in the magnetar model. Alternative explanations, in particular those based on accretion from residual disks, are also considered. The possible relations between these sources and other classes of neutron stars and astrophysical objects are also discussed.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

On the connection of gamma-ray bursts and X-ray flashes in the BATSE and RHESSI databases

TL;DR: In this article, the relation between X-ray flashes and gamma-ray bursts was checked for the BATSE and RHESSI databases, respectively, using an empirical definition of XRFs introduced by other authors earlier.
Journal ArticleDOI

Anomalous x-ray pulsars and soft gamma-ray repeaters in the outer gap model: confronting fermi observations

TL;DR: In this paper, the theoretical spectra of anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft gamma-ray repeaters with sufficient observational parameters were calculated and shown to be magnetars.
Journal ArticleDOI

Estimation of compact binary coalescense rates from short gamma-ray burst redshift measurements

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a set of observed redshift measurements of short gamma-ray bursts to fit a model in order to determine the rate of such merger events in the nearby universe.
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Radiative properties of magnetic neutron stars with metallic surfaces and thin atmospheres

TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed a simple analytic description of the emission properties (spectrum and polarization) of the condensed, strongly magnetized surface of neutron stars, with various inclinations of the magnetic field lines and radiation beam with respect to the surface and each other.
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A solar super‐flare as cause for the 14C variation in AD 774/5?

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that all kinds of stellar or neutron star flares would be too weak for the observed energy input at Earth in AD 774/5, and they conclude that large solar super-flares remain very unlikely as the cause for the 14C increase.
References
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Book

Compact Stellar X-ray Sources

TL;DR: A decade of X-ray sources and their evolution is described in this paper, with a focus on the formation and evolution of super-soft sources and the formation of compact stellar sources.
Journal ArticleDOI

Formation of very strongly magnetized neutron stars - Implications for gamma-ray bursts

TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that a convective dynamo can also generate a very strong dipole field after the merger of a neutron star binary, but only if the merged star survives for as long as about 10-100 ms.
Journal ArticleDOI

The Soft Gamma Repeaters as Very Strongly Magnetized Neutron Stars. II. Quiescent Neutrino, X-Ray, and Alfvén Wave Emission

TL;DR: In this article, the decay rate of the core field is a very strong function of temperature and therefore of the magnetic flux density, which is not present in the decay of the weaker fields associated with ordinary radio pulsars.
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