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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
general
Transient pulsed radio emission from a magnetar
Nature, Volume 442, No. 7105, Year 2006
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Description
Anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are slowly rotating neutron stars with very bright and highly variable X-ray emission that are believed to be powered by ultra-strong magnetic fields of >1014 G, according to the 'magnetar' model. The radio pulsations that have been observed from more than 1,700 neutron stars with weaker magnetic fields have never been detected from any of the dozen known magnetars. The X-ray pulsar XTE J1810 - 197 was revealed (in 2003) as the first AXP with transient emission when its luminosity increased 100-fold from the quiescent level; a coincident radio source of unknown origin was detected one year later. Here we show that XTE J1810 - 197 emits bright, narrow, highly linearly polarized radio pulses, observed at every rotation, thereby establishing that magnetars can be radio pulsars. There is no evidence of radio emission before the 2003 X-ray outburst (unlike ordinary pulsars, which emit radio pulses all the time), and the flux varies from day to day. The flux at all radio frequencies is approximately equal - and at >20 GHz XTE J1810 - 197 is currently the brightest neutron star known. These observations link magnetars to ordinary radio pulsars, rule out alternative accretion models for AXPs, and provide a new window into the coronae of magnetars. © 2006 Nature Publishing Group.
Authors & Co-Authors
Camilo, Fernando
United States, New York
Columbia University
Ransom, Scott M.
United States, Charlottesville
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Halpern, Jules P.
United States, New York
Columbia University
Reynolds, John E.
Australia, Canberra
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Sarkissian, John Mihran
Australia, Canberra
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Statistics
Citations: 345
Authors: 5
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/nature04986
ISSN:
00280836
Research Areas
Environmental