Physics
Scientific paper
Feb 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996natur.379..799k&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 379, Issue 6568, pp. 799-801 (1996).
Physics
86
Scientific paper
SOURCES of high-energy (>20 keV) bursts fall into two distinct types: the non-repeating γ-ray bursters1, several thousand of which have been detected but whose origin remains unknown, and the soft γ-ray repeaters (SGRs), of which there are only three2. The SGRs are known to be associated with supernova remnants, suggesting that the burst events most probably originate from young neutron stars3. Here we report the detection of a third type of transient high-energy source. On 2 December 1995, we observed the onset of a sequence of hard X-ray bursts from a direction close to that of the Galactic Centre4. The interval between bursts was initially several minutes, but after two days, the burst rate had dropped to about one per hour and has been largely unchanged since then. More than 1,000 bursts have now been detected, with remarkably similar light curves and intensities; this behaviour is unprecendented among transient X-ray and γ-ray sources. We suggest that the origin of these bursts might be related to the spasmodic accretion of material onto a neutron star.
Briggs Michael Stephen
Fishman Gerald J.
Harmon Alan B.
Kommers J.
Kouveliotou Chryssa
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