Tomasz Nowakowski is a writer for Phys.org.
Since it entered its active phase, the magnetar known as SGR J1935+2154 has experienced numerous X-ray outbursts. The results of the study could help us understand the nature of this magnetar.
The magnetic field of a Magnetar is 1 quadrillion times stronger than that of our planet. X-rays or radio waves can be produced from the decay of magnetic fields in magnetars.
A surface dipolar magnetic field at a level of about 220 trillion G was detected in SGR J1935+2154, a magnetar with a spin period of 3.25 seconds. It has been one of the most active magnetars since it was discovered, with frequent bursting episodes and outbursts.
The latest reactivation of SGR J1935 began on April 27, 2020, when it started to exhibit hundreds of X-ray bursts. Alice Borghese of the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) in Barcelona, Spain, led a team of astronomer to monitor the Chandra, Swift and NuSTAR spacecraft.
In this paper, we report on the X-ray properties of SGR J1935+2154 based on a long-term monitoring campaign with Chandra, XMM,Newton, NuSTAR, Swift andNICER.
When SGR J1935 entered its fifth recorded phase, it became one of the few magnetars showing recurrent eruptions and bursting activity. This phase included an X-ray burst forest with more than 200 bursts detected in about 20 minutes, and an intense radio burst with properties similar to those of fast radio bursts.
The results show that the broadband spectrum of SGR J1935 had a non-thermal power-law component extending up to 25 keV throughout the observational campaign and a blackbody component with temperature decreasing from 1.5 keV at the peak to around 0.45 ke. The emitting area was fairly constant, with a radius of 1.6 kilometers.
The study found that SGR J1935 reached quiescence level around 80 days after the outburst began, releasing an energy of 60 duodecillion erg. According to the authors of the paper, the observations have not detected either pulsed emission or radio bursts, which seems to suggest that SGR J1935 can swing between radio-loud and radio-quiet states.
More information: Alice Borghese et al, The first 7 months of the 2020 X-ray outburst of the magnetar SGR J1935+2154. arXiv:2205.04983v1 [astro-ph.HE], arxiv.org/abs/2205.04983The Science X Network will be launched in 2022.
Citation: Outbursts of magnetar SGR J1935+2154 investigated in detail (2022, May 18) retrieved 18 May 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-outbursts-magnetar-sgr-j19352154.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
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