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P791 - Monitoring known X-ray magnetars for intermittent radio emission

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Title P791 - Monitoring known X-ray magnetars for intermittent radio emission
 
Subject Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified
 
Description Neutron stars are extreme objects, the size of a city but containing
the mass of the Sun. Pulsars are neutron stars with very strong
magnetic fields that rotate rapidly and emit focused beams of radio
waves that we may detect on Earth once with every turn of the star,
in light-house-like fashion. While the typical pulsar has a magnetic
field strength approximately a million million times stronger than
Earth's, a special and rare class of neutron stars has a field up to
another factor of 1000 stronger - these are the "magnetars", the most
magnetic objects known in the Universe. Magnetars shine in ways that
are different from those of ordinary pulsars, emitting powerful beams
of X-rays. For many years, despite careful searches, no magnetar was
seen to shine at radio wavelengths. Then, 3 were discovered at Parkes
to emit radio pulses. These pulses have unusual characteristics,
however, and in order to understand better this radiation (and in the
process learn more about normal pulsar emission and magnetars), we need
to detect more radio magnetars. In this programme we will observe 11
(so far) X-ray-only magnetars to try to discover more radio-emitting ones.
 
Publisher CSIRO
 
Date 2021-07-16
 
Identifier csiro:P791
 
Language eng