Related papers: The Magnetic Fields of Anomalous X-ray Pulsars

Accreting X-ray pulsars are among the most luminous objects in the X-ray sky. In highly magnetized neutron stars (B~10^12 G), the flow of matter is dominated by the strong magnetic field. The general properties of accreting X-ray binaries…

P-stars are compact stars made of up and down quarks in beta-equilibrium with electrons in a chromomagnetic condensate. P-stars are able to account for compact stars like RXJ 1856.5-3754 and RXJ 0720.4-3125, stars with radius comparable…

Soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are slowly rotating, isolated neutron stars that sporadically undergo episodes of long-term flux enhancement (outbursts) generally accompanied by the emission of short…

P-stars are compact stars made of up and down quarks in $\beta$-equilibrium with electrons in a chromomagnetic condensate. We discuss p-stars endowed with super strong dipolar magnetic field which, following consolidated tradition in…

A substantial fraction of the known neutron stars resides in X-ray binaries -- systems in which one compact object accretes matter from a companion star. Neutron stars in X-ray binaries have magnetic fields among the highest found in the…

Both neutron stars and strange stars are capable of supporting fast rotations observed in pulsars. On the basis of this it has been argued that some of the pulsars could be strange stars. We investigate whether strange stars can sustain…

The anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft gamma-repeaters are peculiar high-energy sources believed to host a magnetar, i.e. an ultra-magnetized neutron star. Their persistent, soft X-ray emission (~1-10 keV)is usually modeled by the…

This article briefly reviews our current understanding (or lack thereof) of the evolution of magnetic fields in neutron stars, with an emphasis on the binary systems. In particular, the significance of the newly emerging population of…

I summarize the recent advances in our understanding of the Soft Gamma Repeaters: in particular their spin behavior, persistent emission and hyper-Eddington outbursts. The giant flares on 5 March 1979 and 27 August 1998 provide compelling…

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 have different orientations of their magnetic axes with respective to their rotation axes.…

Pulsars are rapidly spinning neutron stars, that radiate at the expense of their strong magnetic field and their high surface temperature. Five decades of multi-wavelength observations showed a large variety of physical parameters, such as…

Three high-mass X-ray binaries have been discovered recently exhibiting enormous spinup rates. Conventional accretion theory predicts extremely high surface dipolar magnetic fields that we believe are unphysical. Instead, we propose quite…

The paradigm for Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) has evolved recently with the discovery by INTEGRAL and RXTE of flat, hard X-ray components in three AXPs. These non-thermal spectral components differ dramatically from the steeper…

Bright outbursts from Soft Gamma Repeaters (SGRs) and Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) are believed to be caused by instabilities in ultramagnetized neutron stars, powered by a decaying magnetic field. It was originally thought that these…

Ultramagnetized neutron stars or magnetars are magnetically powered neutron stars. Their strong magnetic fields dominate the physical processes in their crusts and their surroundings. The past few years have seen several advances in our…

We argue that pulsars may be spin-polarized neutron stars, i.e. cosmic permanent magnets. This would simply explain several observational facts about pulsars, including the 'beacon effect' itself i.e. the static/stable misalignment of…

I review recent observational progress on Anomalous X-ray Pulsars, with an emphasis on timing, variability, and spectra. Highlighted results include the recent timing and flux stabilization of the notoriously unstable AXP 1E 1048.1-5937,…

This article is a review of Soft Gamma Repeaters and Anomalous X-ray Pulsars. It contains a brief historical record of the emergence of these classes of neutron stars, a thorough overview of the observational data, a succinct summary of the…

The two anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) with well-sampled timing histories, 1E 1048.1-5937 and 1E 2259+586, are known to spin down irregularly, with `bumps' superimposed on an overall linear trend. Here we show that if AXPs are non-accreting…

AXPs and SGRs constitute a special population of young neutron stars, which are thought to be magnetars, i.e., neutron stars with super-strong magnetic fields (10^14 - 10^15 G). Assuming that AXPs and SGRs accrete matter from a fallback…