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Broadband X-ray burst spectroscopy of the fast-radio-burst-emitting Galactic magnetar

Broadband X-ray burst spectroscopy of the fast-radio-burst-emitting Galactic magnetar
Broadband X-ray burst spectroscopy of the fast-radio-burst-emitting Galactic magnetar

Magnetars are young, magnetically powered neutron stars that possess the strongest magnetic fields in the Universe. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are extremely intense millisecond-long radio pulses of primarily extragalactic origin, and a leading attribution for their genesis focuses on magnetars. A hallmark signature of magnetars is their emission of bright, hard X-ray bursts of sub-second duration. On 27 April 2020, the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 emitted hundreds of X-ray bursts within a few hours. One of these temporally coincided with an FRB, the first known detection of an FRB from the Milky Way. Here, we present spectral and temporal analyses of 24 X-ray bursts emitted 13 hours prior to the FRB and seen simultaneously with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and with the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) mission in their combined energy range of 0.2 keV to 30 MeV. These broadband spectra permit direct comparison with the spectrum of the FRB-associated X-ray burst (FRB-X). We demonstrate that all 24 NICER and GBM bursts are very similar temporally to the FRB-X, but strikingly different spectrally. The singularity of the FRB-X burst is perhaps indicative of an uncommon locale for its origin. We suggest that this event originated in quasi-polar open or closed magnetic field lines that extend to high altitudes.

2397-3366
408-413
Younes, G.
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Baring, M.G.
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Kouveliotou, C.
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Arzoumanian, Zaven
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Ho, Wynn C.G.
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van der Horst, A.J.
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Hu, C.-P.
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Kaneko, Y.
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Lin, L
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Majid, W.
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Okajima, T.
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Saylor, M.
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Steiner, J.F.
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Wadiasingh, Z.
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Younes, G.
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Arzoumanian, Zaven
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Enoto, Teruaki
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Gogus, E.
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Guillot, S.
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Guver, T.
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Harding, A.K.
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Ho, Wynn C.G.
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van der Horst, A.J.
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Hu, C.-P.
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Jaisawal, Gaurava K.
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Kaneko, Y.
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LaMarr, Beverly
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Lin, L
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Majid, W.
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Okajima, T.
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Pope, J.
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Ray, Paul S.
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Roberts, O.J.
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Saylor, M.
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Steiner, J.F.
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Wadiasingh, Z.
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Younes, G., Baring, M.G., Kouveliotou, C., Arzoumanian, Zaven, Enoto, Teruaki, Doty, J., Gendreau, Keith C., Gogus, E., Guillot, S., Guver, T., Harding, A.K., Ho, Wynn C.G., van der Horst, A.J., Hu, C.-P., Jaisawal, Gaurava K., Kaneko, Y., LaMarr, Beverly, Lin, L, Majid, W., Okajima, T., Pope, J., Ray, Paul S., Roberts, O.J., Saylor, M., Steiner, J.F. and Wadiasingh, Z. (2021) Broadband X-ray burst spectroscopy of the fast-radio-burst-emitting Galactic magnetar. Nature Astronomy, 5 (4), 408-413. (doi:10.1038/s41550-020-01292-x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Magnetars are young, magnetically powered neutron stars that possess the strongest magnetic fields in the Universe. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are extremely intense millisecond-long radio pulses of primarily extragalactic origin, and a leading attribution for their genesis focuses on magnetars. A hallmark signature of magnetars is their emission of bright, hard X-ray bursts of sub-second duration. On 27 April 2020, the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 emitted hundreds of X-ray bursts within a few hours. One of these temporally coincided with an FRB, the first known detection of an FRB from the Milky Way. Here, we present spectral and temporal analyses of 24 X-ray bursts emitted 13 hours prior to the FRB and seen simultaneously with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and with the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) mission in their combined energy range of 0.2 keV to 30 MeV. These broadband spectra permit direct comparison with the spectrum of the FRB-associated X-ray burst (FRB-X). We demonstrate that all 24 NICER and GBM bursts are very similar temporally to the FRB-X, but strikingly different spectrally. The singularity of the FRB-X burst is perhaps indicative of an uncommon locale for its origin. We suggest that this event originated in quasi-polar open or closed magnetic field lines that extend to high altitudes.

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2006.11358 - Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 10 December 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 18 February 2021
Published date: April 2021
Additional Information: Funding Information: A portion of this work was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through the NICER mission and the Astrophysics Explorers Program. This research has made use of data and software provided by the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center, which is a service of the Astrophysics Science Division at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and of the High Energy Astrophysics Division at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. G.Y. acknowledges support from NASA under NICER Guest Observer Cycle 1 program 2098 (grant no. 80NSSC19K1452). C.K. acknowledges support from NASA under Fermi Guest Observer Cycle 10 (grant no. 80NSSC17K0761). M.G.B. acknowledges the generous support from the National Science Foundation (grant no. AST-1813649). T.E. is supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (KAKENHI grant nos. 18H01246 and 18H04584) and by the RIKEN Hakubi project. S.G. acknowledges support from the French National Centre for Space Studies. W.C.G.H. acknowledges support from NASA (grant no. 80NSSC20K0278). NICER research at the United States Naval Research Laboratory is supported by NASA. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 446870
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/446870
ISSN: 2397-3366
PURE UUID: 21995515-4943-41fe-a89f-ec72160fb1cd
ORCID for Wynn C.G. Ho: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6089-6836

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Date deposited: 25 Feb 2021 17:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:17

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Contributors

Author: G. Younes
Author: M.G. Baring
Author: C. Kouveliotou
Author: Zaven Arzoumanian
Author: Teruaki Enoto
Author: J. Doty
Author: Keith C. Gendreau
Author: E. Gogus
Author: S. Guillot
Author: T. Guver
Author: A.K. Harding
Author: Wynn C.G. Ho ORCID iD
Author: A.J. van der Horst
Author: C.-P. Hu
Author: Gaurava K. Jaisawal
Author: Y. Kaneko
Author: Beverly LaMarr
Author: L Lin
Author: W. Majid
Author: T. Okajima
Author: J. Pope
Author: Paul S. Ray
Author: O.J. Roberts
Author: M. Saylor
Author: J.F. Steiner
Author: Z. Wadiasingh

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