2024-03-28T21:29:56Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/75792022-12-01T12:16:38Zcom_10261_97com_10261_4col_10261_350
Castro-Tirado, Alberto J.
Ugarte Postigo, Antonio de
Gorosabel, Javier
Jelínek, Martin
Fatkhullin, T. A.
Sokolov, Vladimir V.
Ferrero, P.
Kann, David Alexander
Klose, Sylvio
Sluse, Dominique
Bremer, M.
Winters, Jan Martin
Nuernberger, Dieter
Pérez-Ramírez, Dolores
Guerrero, Martín A.
French, J.
Melady, Gary
Hanlon, Lorraine
McBreen, B.
Leventis, K.
Markoff, Sera
Léon, Stéphane
Kraus, A.
Aceituno, Francisco José
Cunniffe, R.
Kubánek, Petr
Vítek, Stanislav
Schulze, Steve
Wilson, Alex C.
Hudec, R.
Durant, M.
González-Pérez, J. M.
Shahbaz, Tarik
Guziy, Sergey
Pandey, Shashi Bhushan
Pavlenko, Elena P.
Sonbas, Eda
Trushkin, Sergei A.
Bursov, N. N.
Nizhelskij, Nikolaj A.
Sánchez-Fernández, Celia
Sabau-Graziati, Lola
2008-10-07T11:04:52Z
2008-10-07T11:04:52Z
2008-09-28
Nature 455(7212): 506-509 (2008)
0028-0836
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/7579
10.1038/nature07328
1476-4687
Magnetars are young neutron stars with very strong magnetic fields of the order of 1014-1015G. They are detected in our Galaxy either as soft γ-ray repeaters or anomalous X-ray pulsars. Soft γ-ray repeaters are a rare type of γ-ray transient sources that are occasionally detected as bursters in the high-energy sky. No optical counterpart to the γ-ray flares or the quiescent source has yet been identified. Here we report multi-wavelength observations of a puzzling source, SWIFT J195509+261406. We detected more than 40 flaring episodes in the optical band over a time span of three days, and a faint infrared flare 11days later, after which the source returned to quiescence. Our radio observations confirm a Galactic nature and establish a lower distance limit of ~3.7kpc. We suggest that SWIFT J195509+261406 could be an isolated magnetar whose bursting activity has been detected at optical wavelengths, and for which the long-term X-ray emission is short-lived. In this case, a new manifestation of magnetar activity has been recorded and we can consider SWIFT J195509+261406 to be a link between the `persistent' soft γ-ray repeaters/anomalous X-ray pulsars and dim isolated neutron stars.
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openAccess
Flares from a candidate Galactic magnetar suggest a missing link to dim isolated neutron stars
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