Burns, E., Svinkin, D., Hurley, K., Wadiasingh, Z., Negro, M., Younes, G., Hamburg, R., Ridnaia, A., Cook, D., Cenko, S. B., Aloisi, R., Ashton, G., Baring, M., Briggs, M. S., Christensen, N., Frederiks, D., Goldstein, A., Hui, C. M., Kaplan, D. L., Kasliwal, M. M., Kocevski, D., Roberts, O. J., Savchenko, V., Tohuvavohu, A., Veres, P. and Wilson-Hodge, C. A. (2021) Identification of a local sample of gamma-ray bursts consistent with a magnetar giant flare origin. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 907 (2). (doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abd8c8).
Abstract
Cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are known to arise from distinct progenitor channels: short GRBs mostly from neutron star mergers and long GRBs from a rare type of core-collapse supernova (CCSN) called collapsars. Highly magnetized neutron stars called magnetars also generate energetic, short-duration gamma-ray transients called magnetar giant flares (MGFs). Three have been observed from the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies, and they have long been suspected to constitute a third class of extragalactic GRBs. We report the unambiguous identification of a distinct population of four local (99.9% confidence. These properties, the host galaxies, and nondetection in gravitational waves all point to an extragalactic MGF origin. Despite the small sample, the inferred volumetric rates for events above 4 × 1044 erg of RMGF = 3.8+4.0-3.1 × 105 Gpc-3 yr-1 make MGFs the dominant gamma-ray transient detected from extragalactic sources. As previously suggested, these rates imply that some magnetars produce multiple MGFs, providing a source of repeating GRBs. The rates and host galaxies favor common CCSN as key progenitors of magnetars.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Identifiers
Catalogue record
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.