2004/05/15 by S. Klose, A. A. Henden, U. Geppert +7
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/422657
published as Astrophys.J. 609 (2004) L13-L16 · submitted to ApJ Letters
arxiv created 2004/05/15 · openalex publication_date 2004/05/28 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We report the results of a deep near-infrared survey with the Very Large Telescope/Infrared Spectrometer and Array Camera of the environment of the supernova remnant N49 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which contains the soft gamma repeater SGR 0526-66. Two of the four confirmed SGRs are potentially associated with compact stellar clusters. We thus searched for a similar association of SGR 0526-66 and imaged a young stellar cluster at a projected distance of ~30 pc from the SGR. This constitutes the third cluster-SGR link and lends support to scenarios in which SGR progenitors originate in young dusty clusters. If confirmed, the cluster-SGR association constrains the age and thus the initial mass of SGR progenitors.