Anomalous X-ray pulsar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) are now widely believed to be magnetars—young, isolated, highly magnetized neutron stars. These energtic X-ray pulsars are characterized by slow rotation periods of ~5–12 seconds and large magnetic fields of ~1013–1015 gauss. There are currently (as of 2005) 6 known and 2 candidate AXPs. The identification of AXPs with magnetars was motivated by their similarity to another enigmatic class of sources, the soft gamma repeaters.
| A list of AXP candidates and their estimated rotation period in seconds, as of 2003, follows: | ||
| AXP 1E 2259+586 | 6.98 | |
| AXP 1E 1048-59 | 6.45 | |
| AXP 4U 0142+61 | 8.69 | |
| AXP 1RXS 1708-40 | 11.0 | |
| AXP 1E 1841-045 | 11.8 | |
| AXP AXJ1844-0258 | 6.97 | |
| AXP CXJ0110-7211 | 5.44 | |
| Please note that the second, fourth, and last names were abbreviated | ||
[edit] References
Chryssa, Kouveliotou, Robert Duncan, and Christopher Thompson (February 2003). "Magnetars." Scientific American, p.37
[edit] External links
- Meissner Effect in Quark Stars (University of Calgary)
 |
This variable star–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
