The strongest cosmic magnets: soft gamma-ray repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars
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.read more
Citations
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Central Compact Objects in Kes 79 and RCW 103 as ‘Hidden’ Magnetars with Crustal Activity
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed that observations of hidden magnetars in central compact objects can be used to probe crustal activity of neutron stars with large internal magnetic fields, which can be interpreted by lower variable magnetar activity than in typical magnetars.
Journal ArticleDOI
On the global structure of pulsar force-free magnetosphere
TL;DR: In this paper, a generalized multipolar solution of the pulsar equation is proposed to better represent the character of the dipolar force-free field at large distances, where the outer gap location entirely inside the light cylinder implies that the null and critical lines should be aligned and become parallel to the equator at a certain altitude.
Journal ArticleDOI
Opacities for photon splitting and pair creation in neutron star magnetospheres
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore polarization-dependent opacities for two QED processes in static vacuum dipole magnetospheres of highly-magnetized neutron stars, calculating attenuation lengths and determining escape energies, which are the maximum photon energies for transparency out to infinity.
Journal ArticleDOI
X-ray studies of neutron stars and their magnetic fields.
TL;DR: A review is given to some aspects of neutron stars (NSs), with a particular emphasis on the magnetic fields (MFs) of mass-accreting NSs and magnetars, and a discussion is made on the origin and evolution of these strong MFs.
Journal ArticleDOI
Force-free twisted magnetospheres of neutron stars
TL;DR: In this article, a numerical code is proposed to relax an initial configuration of a nonrotating magnetosphere to a force-free geometry, provided any arbitrary form of the magnetic field at the star surface.
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An X-ray pulsar with a superstrong magnetic field in the soft γ-ray repeater SGR1806 − 20
Chryssa Kouveliotou,Chryssa Kouveliotou,S. Dieters,S. Dieters,Tod E. Strohmayer,Tod E. Strohmayer,J. van Paradijs,Gerald J. Fishman,Charles A. Meegan,Kevin Hurley,Jefferson M. Kommers,Ian Smith,Dale A. Frail,Toshio Murakami +13 more
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