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Castro-Tirado AJ, Østgaard N, Göǧüş E, Sánchez-Gil C, Pascual-Granado J, Reglero V, Mezentsev A, Gabler M, Marisaldi M, Neubert T, Budtz-Jørgensen C, Lindanger A, Sarria D, Kuvvetli I, Cerdá-Durán P, Navarro-González J, Font JA, Zhang BB, Lund N, Oxborrow CA, Brandt S, Caballero-García MD, Carrasco-García IM, Castellón A, Castro Tirado MA, Christiansen F, Eyles CJ, Fernández-García E, Genov G, Guziy S, Hu YD, Nicuesa Guelbenzu A, Pandey SB, Peng ZK, Pérez Del Pulgar C, Reina Terol AJ, Rodríguez E, Sánchez-Ramírez R, Sun T, Ullaland K, Yang S. Very-high-frequency oscillations in the main peak of a magnetar giant flare. Nature 2021; 600:621-624. [PMID: 34937892 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04101-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2020] [Accepted: 10/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Magnetars are strongly magnetized, isolated neutron stars1-3 with magnetic fields up to around 1015 gauss, luminosities of approximately 1031-1036 ergs per second and rotation periods of about 0.3-12.0 s. Very energetic giant flares from galactic magnetars (peak luminosities of 1044-1047 ergs per second, lasting approximately 0.1 s) have been detected in hard X-rays and soft γ-rays4, and only one has been detected from outside our galaxy5. During such giant flares, quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) with low (less than 150 hertz) and high (greater than 500 hertz) frequencies have been observed6-9, but their statistical significance has been questioned10. High-frequency QPOs have been seen only during the tail phase of the flare9. Here we report the observation of two broad QPOs at approximately 2,132 hertz and 4,250 hertz in the main peak of a giant γ-ray flare11 in the direction of the NGC 253 galaxy12-17, disappearing after 3.5 milliseconds. The flare was detected on 15 April 2020 by the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor instrument18,19 aboard the International Space Station, which was the only instrument that recorded the main burst phase (0.8-3.2 milliseconds) in the full energy range (50 × 103 to 40 × 106 electronvolts) without suffering from saturation effects such as deadtime and pile-up. Along with sudden spectral variations, these extremely high-frequency oscillations in the burst peak are a crucial component that will aid our understanding of magnetar giant flares.
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Affiliation(s)
- A J Castro-Tirado
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC), Granada, Spain.,Unidad Asociada al CSIC Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática, Escuela de Ingeniería Industrial, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
| | - N Østgaard
- Birkeland Centre for Space Science, Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
| | - E Göǧüş
- Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sabancı University, Istanbul, Turkey.
| | - C Sánchez-Gil
- Departamento de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Universidad de Cádiz, Puerto Real, Spain
| | - J Pascual-Granado
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC), Granada, Spain
| | - V Reglero
- Departamento de Astronomía y Astrofísica, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain.,Imaging Processing Laboratory, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
| | - A Mezentsev
- Birkeland Centre for Space Science, Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
| | - M Gabler
- Departamento de Astronomía y Astrofísica, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain.
| | - M Marisaldi
- Birkeland Centre for Space Science, Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. .,National Institute for Astrophysics, Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienzia dello Spazio, Bologna, Italy.
| | - T Neubert
- DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | | | - A Lindanger
- Birkeland Centre for Space Science, Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - D Sarria
- Birkeland Centre for Space Science, Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - I Kuvvetli
- DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - P Cerdá-Durán
- Departamento de Astronomía y Astrofísica, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
| | | | - J A Font
- Departamento de Astronomía y Astrofísica, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain.,Observatori Astronòmic, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
| | - B-B Zhang
- School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.,Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nanjing University, Ministry of Education, Nanjing, China.,Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA
| | - N Lund
- DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - C A Oxborrow
- DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - S Brandt
- DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - M D Caballero-García
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC), Granada, Spain
| | | | - A Castellón
- Unidad Asociada al CSIC Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática, Escuela de Ingeniería Industrial, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain.,Departamento de Álgebra, Geometría y Topología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
| | - M A Castro Tirado
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC), Granada, Spain.,Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
| | - F Christiansen
- DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - C J Eyles
- Imaging Processing Laboratory, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
| | - E Fernández-García
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC), Granada, Spain
| | - G Genov
- Birkeland Centre for Space Science, Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - S Guziy
- Astronomical Observatory, Mykolaiv National University, Mykolaiv, Ukraine.,Research Institute, Mykolaiv Astronomical Observatory, Mykolaiv, Ukraine
| | - Y-D Hu
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC), Granada, Spain.,Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | | | - S B Pandey
- Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, India
| | - Z-K Peng
- School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.,Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nanjing University, Ministry of Education, Nanjing, China
| | - C Pérez Del Pulgar
- Unidad Asociada al CSIC Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática, Escuela de Ingeniería Industrial, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
| | - A J Reina Terol
- Unidad Asociada al CSIC Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática, Escuela de Ingeniería Industrial, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
| | - E Rodríguez
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC), Granada, Spain
| | | | - T Sun
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC), Granada, Spain.,Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.,School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
| | - K Ullaland
- Birkeland Centre for Space Science, Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - S Yang
- Birkeland Centre for Space Science, Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
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