Related papers: X-Ray Flares from Postmerger Millisecond Pulsars
The Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) has discovered that flares are quite common in early X-ray afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), being observed in roughly 50% of afterglows with prompt followup observations. The flares range in fluence…
The merger of two neutron stars usually produces a remnant with a mass significantly above the single (nonrotating) neutron star maximum mass. In some cases, the remnant will be stabilized against collapse by rapid, differential rotation.…
The Galactic population of rotation-powered (aka radio) millisecond pulsars (MSPs) exhibits diverse X-ray properties. Energetic MSPs show pulsed non-thermal radiation from their magnetospheres. Eclipsing binary MSPs predominantly have X-ray…
Several binary systems have been detected at High Energy (HE, E > 100 MeV) and/or Very High Energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma rays. Some of them are X-ray binaries in which accretion feeds relativistic radio jets and powers the non-thermal…
Pulsing X-ray emission tracks the plasma echo traveling in an extremely long magnetic tube that flares in an Orion Pre-Main Sequence (PMS) star. On the Sun, flares last from minutes to a few hours and the longest-lasting typically involve…
We propose that repeated photoexcitation/ionization of high Z atoms of highly relativistic flows by star light in dense stellar regions followed by emission of decay/recombination photons, which are beamed and boosted to gamma ray energies…
The giant flares produced by highly magnetized neutron stars, "magnetars," are the brightest sources of high energy radiation outside our solar system. Serendipitous observations with NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) of the two…
Energetic bursts from strongly magnetized neutron stars, known as magnetars, are typically detected in clusters. Once an active episode begins, anywhere from a few to thousands of hard X-ray bursts can occur over durations ranging from days…
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) may be powered by the rotational energy of a millisecond magnetar. I argue that the GRB-driving magnetars lie at the high end of the distribution of magnetic field strengths of magnetars. The field of…
We study the duration and variability of late time X-ray flares following gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed by the narrow field X-ray telescope (XRT) aboard the {\it Swift} spacecraft. These flares are thought to be indicative of late time…
A model is proposed for gamma-ray bursts based upon a neutrino burst of about 10^52 ergs lasting a few seconds above a heated collapsing neutron star. This type of thermal neutrino burst is suggested by relativistic hydrodynamic studies of…
Most active galactic nuclei at the center of the nearby galaxies have super-massive black holes accreting at sub-Eddington rates through hot accretion flows or radiatively inefficient accretion flows, which efficiently produce jets. The…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are a mixed class of sources consisting of, at least, the long duration and short-hard subclasses, the X-ray flashes, and the low-luminosity GRBs. In all cases, the release of enormous amounts of energy on a short…
Double neutron star mergers are strong sources of gravitational waves. The upcoming advanced gravitational wave detectors are expected to make the first detection of gravitational wave bursts (GWBs) associated with these sources. Proposed…
A variety of arguments suggest that the most common form of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), those longer than a few seconds, involve the formation of black holes in supernova-like events. Two kinds of ``collapsar'' models are discussed, those in…
Millisecond pulsars have been discussed as a possible source of the gamma-ray excess observed from the region surrounding the Galactic Center. With this in mind, we use the observed population of bright low-mass X-ray binaries to estimate…
Nuclear-powered X-ray millisecond pulsars are the third type of millisecond pulsars, which are powered by thermonuclear fusion processes. The corresponding brightness oscillations, known as burst oscillations, are observed during some…
The hypothesis that short GRBs arise from the coalescence of binary compact stars has recently gained support. With this comes the expectation that the afterglow should bear the characteristic signature of a tenuous intergalactic medium…
X-ray flares detected in nearly half of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows are one of the most intriguing phenomena in high-energy astrophysics. All the observations indicate that the central engines of bursts, after the gamma-ray emission…
We consider gamma--ray bursts produced by the merger of a massive white dwarf with a neutron star. We show that these are likely to produce long--duration GRBs, in some cases definitely without an accompanying supernova, as observed…