A Variable Infrared Counterpart to the Soft Gamma-ray Repeater SGR 1806-20

Abstract

We present K'-band (2.12 micron) imaging observations of the SGR 1806-20 field taken during its very active phase in mid 2004, which reveal brightening of sources within the Chandra X-ray error circle when compared with earlier images obtained in 2002. One source brightened by more than a factor of 2, and so we consider this to be the probable infrared counterpart for SGR 1806-20. The other two sources are located in close proximity to the probable counterpart and show marginal brightening, which may suggest that the high-energy photons emitted from the SGR during its active phase have induced dust sublimation or brightening of the unresolved background around the SGR.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in ApJ Letters. (12 pages, 3 figures)

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Cited by in corpus (20)

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• Searching for small-scale diffuse emission around SGR 1806-20