New Results on the Spectral Evolution of Magnetar Bright Bursts

Magnetars are isolated neutron stars characterized by long spin periods (2-12 s) and large spin down rates, implying a very strong magnetic field, B>10E14 G. Magnetars exhibit short bursts of hard X-/soft gamma-rays with luminosities ranging from 10E37 to 10E41 erg/s. The magnetar SGR J1550-5418 entered an extremely active bursting episode, starting on 2008 October 03 until 2009 April 17, during which Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) observed several hundred bursts from this source. Such wealth of bursts resulted in the largest catalog of detailed temporal and spectral results for SGR J1550-5418. Here, we discuss new results from time-resolved spectral analysis of the brightest bursts from this source. Our analysis, together with the comparison of our results with other magnetar bursts, enabled us to put strong constraints on the theories underlying the magnetar bursts emission mechanism.