Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 1998
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998aas...193.5602k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 193rd AAS Meeting, #56.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 30, p.1332
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
2
Scientific paper
Soft Gamma Repeaters (SGRs) are sources of brief intense outbursts of low-energy gamma radiation, which occur in bunches, with active periods lasting between few weeks and several months at time intervals of years. Three SGRs were discovered between 1979 and 1983 and a fourth in 1998. Their (rudimentary) sky distribution (three very close to the galactic plane in the central regions of the Galaxy, the fourth in the LMC) indicates that peak luminosities of SGR bursts are in the range 10(42) to 10(44) erg/s and suggests that SGRs are a young source population, a conclusion supported by the stregthening association of SGRs with young supernova remnants. In early 1998 we discovered X-ray pulsations from two SGRs: SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14, with periods of 7.47 and 5.16 s, respectively. Subsequent observations revealed a significant spindown of these periods, of the order of 10(-10) s/s in both cases. The P and dot {P} measurements allowed us to conclude that SGRs are magnetars, i.e., young neutron stars with very strong magnetic fields of B>10(14) G. I will describe the SGR overal characteristics and discuss the evidence that link SGRs to magnetars.
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