The birthrate of magnetars
Abstract
Magnetars, neutron stars with ultrastrong magnetic fields (B ~ 1014-1015G), manifest their exotic nature in the form of soft gamma-ray repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars. This study estimates the birthrate of magnetars to be ~0.22 per century with a Galactic population comprising ~17 objects. A population synthesis was carried out based on the five anomalous X-ray pulsars detected in the ROSAT All Sky Survey by comparing their number to that of massive OB stars in a well-defined volume. Additionally, the group of seven X-ray dim isolated neutron stars detected in the same survey were found to have a birthrate of ~2 per century with a Galactic population of ~22000 objects.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- October 2007
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12254.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0703346
- Bibcode:
- 2007MNRAS.381...52G
- Keywords:
-
- stars: magnetic fields;
- stars: neutron;
- pulsars: general;
- stars: statistics;
- supernovae: general;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 8 pages, 3 figures, changes to reflect version accepted by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society