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F.P. Gavriil, V.M. Kaspi (McGill University), P.M. Woods (USRA/NSSTC)
We report on the results of long-term monitoring of all five confirmed Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). Specifically, we describe the discovery of Soft Gamma Repeater-like bursts from two AXPs: 1E 1048.1-5937 the least rotationally stable AXP, and 1E 2259+586 the most rotationally stable AXP. We compare and contrast the temporal, spectral and flux properties of these events to those of SGR bursts, and show that the two phenomena are very similar. During the outburst of 1E 2259+586 the pulsar suffered a clear rotational glitch. Furthermore, the pulsed flux of 1E 2259+58 increased by a factor of ~4 during its bursting episode, and a significant pulse morphology change was seen, such that the relative amplitude of the double peaked profile was swapped. These results imply a close relationship between AXPs and SGRs, with both being magnetars.
This work is funded by NSERC, CIAR, and NASA.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: gavriil@physics.mcgill.ca
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society,
35#2
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.