XMM-NEWTON VIEW OF SWIFT J1834.9–0846 AND ITS MAGNETAR WIND NEBULA

We report on the analysis of two XMM-Newton observations of the recently discovered soft gamma repeater Swift J1834.9-0846, taken in 2005 September and one month after the source went into outburst on 2011 August 7. We performed timing and spectral analyses on the point source as well as on the exte...

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Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 757; no. 1; pp. 1 - 10
Main Authors Younes, G, Kouveliotou, C, Kargaltsev, O, Pavlov, G G, GOGUS, E, Wachter, S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 20.09.2012
Subjects
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Constants
Decay
EFFICIENCY
Emission analysis
ENERGY LOSSES
KEV RANGE
LUMINOSITY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC STARS
NEBULAE
NEUTRON STARS
PHOTON EMISSION
POINT SOURCES
Pollution sources
PULSARS
ROTATION
STARS
STELLAR WINDS
X RADIATION
XMM (spacecraft)
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Summary:We report on the analysis of two XMM-Newton observations of the recently discovered soft gamma repeater Swift J1834.9-0846, taken in 2005 September and one month after the source went into outburst on 2011 August 7. We performed timing and spectral analyses on the point source as well as on the extended emission. We find that the source period is consistent with an extrapolation of the Chandra ephemeris reported earlier and the spectral properties remained constant. The source luminosity decreased to a level of 1.6 x 10 super(34) erg s super(-1) following a decay trend of [is proportional to] t super(-0.5). Our spatial analysis of the source environment revealed the presence of two extended emission regions around the source. The first (region A) is a symmetric ring around the point source, starting at 25" and extending to ~50". We argue that region A is a dust scattering halo. The second (region B) has an asymmetrical shape extending between 50" and 150", and is detected both in the pre- and post-outburst data. We argue that this region is a possible magnetar wind nebula (MWN). The X-ray efficiency of the MWN with respect to the rotation energy loss is substantially higher than those of rotation-powered pulsars: [eta] sub(X) identical with L sub(MWN.0.5-8 keV)/E sub(rot) approximately 0.7. The higher efficiency points to a different energy source for the MWN of Swift J1834.9-0846, most likely bursting activity of the magnetar, powered by its high magnetic field, B = 1.4 x 10 super(14) G.
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ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/757/1/39