2003/06/04 by P. M. Woods, C. Kouveliotou, E. Gogus +14 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Detector #Flare #Gamma-ray burst #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Magnitude (astronomy) #Neutron star #Optics #Phase (matter) #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Pulse (music) #Spin (aerodynamics) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Torque #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/376891
published as Astrophys.J. 596 (2003) 464-469 · 13 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
arxiv created 2003/06/04 · openalex publication_date 2003/10/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We report on observations of SGR 1900+14 made with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer ( RXTE ) and BeppoSAX during the 2001 April burst activation of the source. Using these data, we measure the spin-down torque on the star and confirm earlier findings that the torque and burst activity are not directly correlated. We compare the X-ray pulse profile to the gamma-ray profile during the April 18 intermediate flare and show that (1) their shapes are similar and (1) the gamma-ray profile aligns closely in phase with the X-ray pulsations. The good phase alignment of the gamma-ray and X-ray profiles suggests that there was no rapid spin-down following this flare of the magnitude inferred for the August 27 giant flare. We discuss how these observations further constrain magnetic field reconfiguration models for the large flares of SGRs.