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Magnetar

About: Magnetar is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2905 publications have been published within this topic receiving 106806 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
F. Kirsten1
TL;DR: In this article , the authors proposed that fast radio bursts (FRBs) originates from a highly magnetized neutron star formed either through the accretion-induced collapse of a white dwarf, or the merger of compact stars in a binary system.
Abstract: Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are flashes of unknown physical origin1. The majority of FRBs have been seen only once, although some are known to generate multiple flashes2,3. Many models invoke magnetically powered neutron stars (magnetars) as the source of the emission4,5. Recently, the discovery6 of another repeater (FRB 20200120E) was announced, in the direction of the nearby galaxy M81, with four potential counterparts at other wavelengths6. Here we report observations that localized the FRB to a globular cluster associated with M81, where it is 2 parsecs away from the optical centre of the cluster. Globular clusters host old stellar populations, challenging FRB models that invoke young magnetars formed in a core-collapse supernova. We propose instead that FRB 20200120E originates from a highly magnetized neutron star formed either through the accretion-induced collapse of a white dwarf, or the merger of compact stars in a binary system7. Compact binaries are efficiently formed inside globular clusters, so a model invoking them could also be responsible for the observed bursts.

67 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that the number of potentially observable pulsars in the inner parsec has a conservative upper bound of ∼$ 200, and that it is premature to conclude that there is a small number of pulsars beaming towards the Earth.
Abstract: The recent discovery of a magnetar in the Galactic centre region has allowed Spitler et al. to characterize the interstellar scattering in that direction. They find that the temporal broadening of the pulse profile of the magnetar is substantially less than that predicted by models of the electron density of that region. This raises the question of what the plausible limits for the number of potentially observable pulsars - i.e., the number of pulsars beaming towards the Earth - in the Galactic centre are. In this paper, using reasonable assumptions - namely, (i) the luminosity function of pulsars in the Galactic centre region is the same as that in the field, (ii) the region has had a constant pulsar formation rate, (iii) the spin and luminosity evolution of magnetars and pulsars are similar, and (iv) the scattering in the direction of the Galactic centre magnetar is representative of the entire inner parsec - we show that the potentially observable population of pulsars in the inner parsec has a conservative upper limit of $\sim$ 200, and that it is premature to conclude that the number of pulsars in this region is small. We also show that the observational results so far are consistent with this number and make predictions for future radio pulsar surveys of the Galactic centre.

67 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work proposes a unified picture of high magnetic field radio pulsars and magnetars by arguing that they are all rotating high-field neutron stars but that their magnetic axes have different orientations with respect to their rotation axes.
Abstract: We propose a unified picture of high magnetic field radio pulsars and magnetars by arguing that they are all rotating high-field neutron stars but that their magnetic axes have different orientations with respect to their rotation axes. In strong magnetic fields where photon splitting suppresses pair creation near the surface, the high-field pulsars can have active inner accelerators while the anomalous X-ray pulsars cannot. This can account for the very different observed emission characteristics of the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1E 2259+586 and the high-field radio pulsar PSR J1814-1744. A predicted consequence of this picture is that radio pulsars having surface magnetic fields greater than about 2 × 1014 G should not exist.

67 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: By fitting the bolometric light curves of 31 super-luminous supernovae (SLSNe) with the magnetar engine model, Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper derived the ejecta masses and magnetar parameters for these SLSNe.
Abstract: By fitting the bolometric light curves of 31 super-luminous supernovae (SLSNe) with the magnetar engine model, we derive the ejecta masses and magnetar parameters for these SLSNe. The lower boundary of magnetic field strengths of SLSN magnetars can be set just around the critical field strength $B_{\rm c}$ of electron Landau quantization. In more details, SLSN magnetars can further be divided into two subclasses of magnetic fields of $\sim(1-5)B_{\rm c}$ and $\sim(5-10)B_{\rm c}$, respectively. It is revealed that these two subclasses of magnetars are just associated with the slow-evolving and fast-evolving bolometric light curves of SLSNe. In comparison, the magnetars harbored in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and associated hypernovae are usually inferred to have much higher magnetic fields with a lower boundary about $\sim10B_{\rm c}$. This robustly suggests that it is the magnetic fields that play the crucial role in distinguishing SLSNe from GRBs/hypernovae. The rotational energy of SLSN magnetars are found to be correlated with the masses of supernova ejecta, which provides a clue to explore the nature of their progenitors. Moreover, the distribution of ejecta masses of SLSNe is basically intermediate between those of normal core-collapse supernovae and hypernovae. This could indicate an intrinsic connection among these different stellar explosions.

67 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, Chandra observations of the 0.3 s X-ray pulsar PSR J1846-0258 associated with the supernova remnant (SNR) Kes 75.
Abstract: We present results from the archival Chandra observations of the 0.3 s X-ray pulsar PSR J1846-0258 associated with the supernova remnant (SNR) Kes 75. The pulsar has the highest spin-down luminosity (Edot = 8.3e36 erg/s) among all the high magnetic field pulsars (HBPs) and has been classified as a Crab-like pulsar despite its magnetic field (5e13 G) being above the quantum critical field. It is the only HBP described by a non-thermal Crab-like spectrum, powering a bright pulsar wind nebula (PWN). Our spectroscopic study shows evidence of spectral softening (photon index = 1.32 to 1.97) and temporal brightening (unabsorbed flux = 4.3e-12 to 2.7e-11 erg/cm^2/s) of the pulsar by ~6 times from 2000 to 2006. The 0.5-10 keV luminosity of the pulsar at the revised distance of 6 kpc has also increased from 1.85e34 to 1.16e35 erg/s, and the X-ray efficiency increased from 0.2% to 1.4%. The observed X-ray brightening and softening of the pulsar suggests for the first time that this HBP is revealing itself as a magnetar.

67 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20241
2023137
2022292
2021189
2020257
2019142