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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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IceCube Constraints on Fast-Spinning Pulsars as High-Energy Neutrino Sources

TL;DR: In this article, conditions for high-energy neutrino production, considering the interaction of accelerated particles with baryons of the expanding supernova ejecta and the radiation fields in the wind nebula, were examined.
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Modified Fermi energy of electrons in a superhigh magnetic field

TL;DR: In this paper, the electron Landau level stability and its influence on the electron Fermi energy, EF(e), in the circumstance of magnetars, which are powered by magnetic field energy.
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On the distribution of particle acceleration sites in plasmoid-dominated relativistic magnetic reconnection

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the distribution of particle acceleration sites, independently of the actual acceleration mechanism, during plasmoid-dominated, relativistic collisionless magnetic reconnection by analyzing the results of a particle-in-cell numerical simulation.
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Magnetic Domains in Magnetar Matter as an Engine for Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters and Anomalous X-ray Pulsars

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the possibility that soft gamma-ray repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) might be observational evidence for a magnetic phase separation in magnetars.
References
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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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