The Birthrate of Magnetars

Abstract

Magnetars, neutron stars with ultra strong magnetic fields ($B\sim 10^{14}-10^{15}$G), 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 $\sim$ 0.22 per century with a galactic population comprising of $\sim$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 $\sim$ 2 per century with a galactic population of $\sim$ 22,000 objects.

8 pages, 3 figures, changes to reflect version accepted by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

References in corpus (4)

• Transient pulsed radio emission from a magnetar
• A tale of two populations: Rotating Radio Transients and X-ray Dim Isolated Neutron Stars
• Unveiling Soft Gamma-Ray Repeaters with INTEGRAL
• PSR J1119-6127 and the X-ray Emission from High Magnetic Field Radio Pulsars

Cited by in corpus (4)

• On the birthrates of Galactic neutron stars
• Origin and evolution of magnetars
• Ultrahigh energy cosmic ray acceleration in newly born magnetars and their associated gravitational wave signatures
• Quark-Novae, cosmic reionization, and early r-process element production