Our distorted view of magnetars: application of the Resonant Cyclotron Scattering model

Abstract

The X-ray spectra of the magnetar candidates are customarily fitted with an empirical, two component model: an absorbed blackbody and a power-law. However, the physical interpretation of these two spectral components is rarely discussed. It has been recently proposed that the presence of a hot plasma in the magnetosphere of highly magnetized neutron stars might distort, through efficient resonant cyclotron scattering, the thermal emission from the neutron star surface, resulting in the production of non-thermal spectra. Here we discuss the Resonant Cyclotron Scattering (RCS) model, and present its XSPEC implementation, as well as preliminary results of its application to Anomalous X-ray Pulsars and Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters.

5 pages, 5 color figures; Astrophysics & Space Science, in press ("Isolated Neutron Stars"; London, UK)

References in corpus (4)

• Transient pulsed radio emission from a magnetar
• A Debris Disk Around An Isolated Young Neutron Star
• Discovery of luminous pulsed hard X-ray emission from anomalous X-ray pulsars 1RXS J1708-4009, 4U 0142+61 and 1E 2259+586 by INTEGRAL and RXTE
• Distances to Anomalous X-ray Pulsars using Red Clump Stars

Cited by in corpus (8)

• X-ray spectra from magnetar candidates. I. Monte Carlo simulations in the non-relativistic regime
• Resonant cyclotron scattering in magnetars' emission
• Outburst of the 2 s Anomalous X-ray Pulsar 1E 1547.0-5408
• Constraints on the Emission and Viewing Geometry of the Transient Anomalous X-ray Pulsar XTE J1810-197
• Very deep X-ray observations of the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar 4U 0142+614
• SGR 1806-20 about two years after the giant flare: Suzaku, XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL observations
• Intensity-hardness correlation and deep infrared observation of the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1RXS J170849-400910
• Scattering of Low-Frequency Radiation by a Gyrating Electron