An exceptionally bright flare from SGR 1806–20 and the origins of short-duration γ-ray bursts

@article{Hurley2005AnEB,
  title={An exceptionally bright flare from SGR 1806–20 and the origins of short-duration $\gamma$-ray bursts},
  author={Kevin Hurley and Steven E. Boggs and Da. G. Munro Smith and Robert C. Duncan and Robert P. Lin and Andreas Zoglauer and S{\"a}m Krucker and G. J. Hurford and Hugh S. Hudson and Claudia Wigger and Wojtek Hajdas and C. Thompson and Igor G. Mitrofanov and Anton B. Sanin and William V. Boynton and Chuck Fellows and A. von Kienlin and Giselher G. Lichti and Arne Rau and Thomas L. Cline},
  journal={Nature},
  year={2005},
  volume={434},
  pages={1098-1103}
}
Soft-γ-ray repeaters (SGRs) are galactic X-ray stars that emit numerous short-duration (about 0.1 s) bursts of hard X-rays during sporadic active periods. They are thought to be magnetars: strongly magnetized neutron stars with emissions powered by the dissipation of magnetic energy. Here we report the detection of a long (380 s) giant flare from SGR 1806–20, which was much more luminous than any previous transient event observed in our Galaxy. (In the first 0.2 s, the flare released as much… Expand
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An X-ray burst from a magnetar enlightening the mechanism of fast radio bursts
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are short (millisecond) radio pulses originating from enigmatic sources at extragalactic distances so far lacking a detection in other energy bands. Magnetized neutron stars… Expand
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A giant γ-ray flare from the magnetar SGR 1806–20
Two classes of rotating neutron stars—soft γ-ray repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars—are magnetars, whose X-ray emission is powered by a very strong magnetic field (B ≈ 1015 G). SGRs… Expand
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