SPS4: What powers AXPs and SGRs?

For Abstract submission, please, use following form

It is generally assumed that Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) and Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters (SGRs) are powered by the decay of super-strong magnetic fields of the order of 10¹⁴ - 10¹⁵ Gauss. These are thought to be dipole magnetic fields and the observed steady-state X-ray luminosity, as well as the energy for the "giant bursts" and the "short bursts", is thought to come from magnetic energy.

An alternative model has been proposed that explains many of the observed characteristics. The neutron stars involved have dipole magnetic fields of normal strength (10¹² - 10¹³ Gauss) and the steady-state X-ray luminosity comes from accretion of matter from a fallback disk. In this picture, the "bursts" are powered by magnetic energy that resides in multipole fields.

During this Special Session, recent observations of AXPs and SGRs, as well as their interpretation in the light of the above models, will be presented. During the session we plan to have 2 invited talks, various contributed talks, as well as numerous poster presentations. The invited speakers are: Prof. Feryal Ozel (Univ. of Arizona) and Prof. Joachim Trumper (MPE)

Contact: kylafis@physics.uoc.gr