Related papers: Photon Splitting in Soft Gamma Repeaters
The magnetospheres of neutron stars provide a valuable testing ground for as-yet unverified theoretical predictions of quantum electrodynamics (QED) in strong electromagnetic fields. Exhibiting magnetic field strengths well in excess of a…
We investigate a stationary pair production cascade in the outer magnetosphere of an isolated, spinning neutron star. The charge depletion due to global flows of charged particles, causes a large electric field along the magnetic field…
Soft Gamma Repeaters (SGRs) are a class of rare, high-energy galactic transients that have episodes of short (~0.1 sec), soft (~30 keV), intense (~100 Crab), gamma-ray bursts. We report an analysis of the x-ray emission from 95 SGR1806-20…
We explore a new mechanism for photon energy gain in a relativistic plasma with velocity shear. This process takes place in optically thick plasma and resembles conventional Fermi acceleration, where photons undergo multiple scatterings…
When a star undergoes core collapse, a vast amount of energy is released in a ~10 s long burst of neutrinos of all species. Inverse beta decay in the star's hydrogen envelope causes an electromagnetic cascade which ultimately results in a…
Soft gamma repeaters (SGR) are identified as single neutron stars (NS) inside the Galaxy, or nearby galaxies, with sporadic transient gamma radiation. A total number of discovered SGR, including relative Anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXP), is…
In June-July,1998 the Konus-Wind burst spectrometer observed a series of bursts from the new soft gamma repeater SGR1627-41. Time histories and energy spectra of the bursts have been studied, revealing fluences and peak fluxes in the ranges…
We discuss here constraints on the particle acceleration models from the observed gamma-ray bursts spectra. The standard synchrotron shock model assumes that some fraction of available energy is given instantaneously to the electrons which…
There is evidence that soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) are neutron stars which experience frequent starquakes, possibly driven by an evolving, ultra-strong magnetic field. The empirical power-law distribution of SGR burst energies, analogous to…
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…
It is suggested that the persistent X-ray emission from the soft gamma-ray repeaters is the thermal radiation of neutron stars which is enhanced by a factor of 10 or more due to the effect of a very strong magnetic field on the thermal…
Synchrotron radiation and Compton scattering are widely accepted as the most likely emission mechanisms of some astrophysical phenomena, such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The measurement on polarization of…
Soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) are a rare type of gamma-ray transient sources that are ocasionally detected as bursts in the high-energy sky. They are thought to be produced by magnetars, young neutron stars with very strong magnetic…
The process of photon splitting is investigated in the presence of strongly magnetized electron-positron plasma. The amplitude of the process is calculated in general case of plasma with nonzero chemical potential and temperature. The…
The recently discovered soft gamma-ray emission from the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1E 1841-045 has a luminosity L_g ~ 10^{36} ergs/s. This luminosity exceeds the spindown power by three orders of magnitude and must be fed by an alternative…
Emission from the photosphere in gamma-ray burst (GRB) jets can be substantially affected by subphotospheric energy dissipation, which is typically caused by radiation-mediated shocks (RMSs). We study the observational characteristics of…
A small fraction of GRBs with available data down to soft X-rays ($\sim0.5$ keV) have been shown to feature a spectral break in the low-energy part ($\sim1-10$ keV) of their prompt emission spectrum. The overall spectral shape is consistent…
The splitting of photons in the presence of an intense magnetic field has recently found astrophysical applications in polar cap models of gamma-ray pulsars and in magnetar scenarios for soft gamma repeaters. Numerical computation of the…
We develop a model for a possible origin of hard very high energy spectra from a distant blazar. In the model, both the primary photons produced in the source and secondary photons produced outside the source contribute to the observed high…
Typical observational gamma-ray burst (GRB) spectra are discussed and, in this connection, what is the origin of the compactness problem and how it was solved at first. If the threshold for $e^{-}e^{+}$ pair production depends on an angle…