Open AccessDo magnetars glitch? Timing irregularities in anomalous X‐ray pulsars
Author(s) -
Heyl Jeremy S.,
Hernquist Lars
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02516.x
Subject(s) - pulsar , physics , glitch , magnetar , neutron star , astrophysics , magnetic dipole , astronomy , x ray pulsar , magnetic field , dipole , spin (aerodynamics) , optics , quantum mechanics , detector , thermodynamics
We examine the timing history of several anomalous X‐ray pulsars (AXPs), and find that they exhibit spin‐down irregularities that are statistically similar to those of radio pulsars. We propose that these irregularities are simply glitches like those of radio pulsars, and fit glitching spin‐down solutions to the data available for 1E 2259+586, 1E 1048.1‐‐5937 and 4U 0142+61. The inferred magnitude of the glitches (ΔΟ) is comparable to that exhibited in radio pulsar glitching. With these results, we argue that the three AXPs that we have studied are isolated neutron stars spinning down by magnetic dipole radiation and powered by a combination of cooling, magnetic field decay and magnetospheric particle bombardment.