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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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Journal ArticleDOI

A Broadband Emission Model of Magnetar Wind Nebulae

TL;DR: In this paper, a broadband emission model of magnetar wind nebulae (MWNe) was constructed for the first time and applied to the MWN around the youngest magnetar 1E 1547.0-5408 that has the largest spin-down power.
Journal ArticleDOI

Relativistic expansion of magnetic loops at the self‐similar stage – II. Magnetized outflows interacting with the ambient plasma

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors obtained self-similar solutions of relativistically expanding magnetic loops by assuming axisymmetry and a purely radial flow, and they used the analytical solutions as the initial condition and the inner boundary conditions.
Journal ArticleDOI

Constraints on physics of neutron stars from X-ray observations

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors summarize some constraints on the physics of neutron stars arising from X-ray observations of the surfaces of the neutron stars, focusing on using models of low-magnetic-field neutron star atmospheres to interpret their Xray spectra.
Journal ArticleDOI

On the Polarization Properties of Magnetar Giant Flare Pulsating Tails

TL;DR: In this paper, the atmospheric structure of the trapped fireball and the polarization properties of a trapped fireball were derived from a closed-field-line region in the magnetosphere of a soft gamma-ray repeater.
Journal ArticleDOI

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 were investigated in the circumstance of magnetars, which are powered by magnetic field energy.
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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