An infrared ring around the magnetar SGR 1900+14

Abstract

Magnetars are a special class of slowly rotating neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields -- at least an order of magnitude larger than those of the "normal" radio pulsars. The potential evolutionary links and differences between these two types of objects are still unknown; recent studies, however, have provided circumstantial evidence connecting magnetars with very massive progenitor stars. Here we report the discovery of an infrared elliptical ring or shell surrounding the magnetar SGR 1900+14. The appearance and energetics of the ring are difficult to interpret within the framework of the progenitor's stellar mass loss or the subsequent evolution of the supernova remnant. We suggest instead that a dust-free cavity was produced in the magnetar environment by the giant flare emitted by the source in August 1998. Considering the total energy released in the flare, the theoretical dust--destruction radius matches well with the observed dimensions of the ring. We conclude that SGR 1900+14 is unambiguously associated with a cluster of massive stars, thereby solidifying the link between magnetars and massive stars.

19 pages, 1 figure

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Cited by in corpus (15)

• The McGill Magnetar Catalog
• The H.E.S.S. Galactic plane survey
• The progenitor mass of the magnetar SGR1900+14
• Proper Motions and Origins of SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14
• A Mid-Infrared Counterpart to the Magnetar 1E 2259+586
• Dynamics of Particles around Time Conformal Schwarzschild Black Hole
• Magnetized massive stars as magnetar progenitors
• Constraining the Proper Motions of Two Magnetars
• Identification of the infrared counterpart of SGR 1935+2154 with the Hubble Space Telescope
• Chandra astrometry sets a tight upper limit to the proper motion of SGR 1900+14
• Diffuse high energy neutrinos and cosmic rays from hyperflares of soft-gamma repeaters
• Magnetars and Gamma Ray Bursts
• Near-infrared follow-up to the May 2008 activation of SGR 1627-41
• Dust radiative transfer modelling of the infrared ring around the magnetar SGR 1900$+$14
• Unveiling the nature of the unidentified gamma-ray sources 4FGL J1908.6+0915e, HESS J1907+089/HOTS J1907+091, and 3HWC J1907+085 in the sky region of the magnetar SGR 1900+14