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Register a new userChandra observations of the newly discovered magnetar Swift J1818.0-1607
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Swift J1818.0-1607 is a new radio-loud magnetar discovered by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope on 2020 March 12. It has a magnetic field B~2.5e14 G, spin-down luminosity of 7.2e35 ergs/s, and characteristic age of ~470yr. Here we report on the Chandra observations of Swift J1818.0-1607, which allowed for a high-resolution imaging and spectroscopic study of the magnetar and its environment. The 1-10 keV spectrum of the magnetar is best described by a single blackbody model with a temperature of 1.2pm0.1 keV and an unabsorbed flux of 1.9e-11 ergs/cm^2/s. This implies an X-ray luminosity of ~9.6e34 ergs/s and an efficiency of ~0.13 at a distance of 6.5 kpc. The Chandra image also shows faint diffuse emission out to >10 from the magnetar, with its spectrum adequately described by a powerlaw with a photon index of 2.0pm0.5 and a luminosity of ~8.1e33 ergs/s. The extended emission is likely dominated by a dust scattering halo and future observations of the source in quiescence will reveal any underlying compact wind nebula. We conclude that Swift J1818.0-1607 is a transient source showing properties between high-B pulsars and magnetars, and could be powered at least partly by its high spin-down similar to the rotation-powered pulsars.
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Swift J1818.0-1607 discovered in early 2020 is not only the fifth magnetar known with periodic radio pulsations but also the fastest rotating one. Simultaneous 2.25 and 8.60 GHz observations of Swift J1818.0-1607 were carried out with Shanghai Tian Ma Radio Telescope (TMRT) from MJD 58936 to 59092. The spin-frequency $ u$ and first-order derivative $dot u$ of this magnetar were obtained with piecewise fitting method because of its instable timing properties. We found that the amplitude of short-term $dot u$ fluctuations decreased with time, and the long-term declining trend of $ u$ discovered previously continued in our observations. The best fitted long-term $dot u$ were about $-2.25 times 10^{-11}~s^{-2}$ using our observation data spanning 156 days. The derived characteristic age was about 522 yr, supporting the recent viewpoint that this magnetar may be older than initially thought shortly after its discovery. The flux density of this magnetar was increased at both 2.25 and 8.60 GHz during our observations, and its radio spectrum became flatter at the same time. We also detected bright-quiet type emission mode switching in Swift J1818.0-1607.
We report on multi-frequency radio observations of the new magnetar Swift J1818.0-1607, following it for more than one month with high cadence. The observations commenced less than 35 hours after its registered first outburst. We obtained timing, polarisation and spectral information. Swift J1818.0-1607 has an unusually steep spectrum for a radio emitting magnetar and also has a relatively narrow and simple pulse profile. The position angle swing of the polarisation is flat over the pulse profile, possibly suggesting that our line-of-sight grazes the edge of the emission beam. This may also explain the steep spectrum. The spin evolution shows large variation in the spin-down rate, associated with four distinct timing events over the course of our observations. Those events may be related to the appearance and disappearance of a second pulse component. The first timing event coincides with our actual observations, while we did not detect significant changes in the emission properties which could reveal further magnetospheric changes. Characteristic ages inferred from the timing measurements over the course of months vary by nearly an order of magnitude. A longer-term spin-down measurement over approximately 100 days suggests an characteristic age of about 500 years, larger than previously reported. Though Swift J1818.0-1607 could still be one of the youngest neutron stars (and magnetars) detected so far, we caution using the characteristic age as a true-age indicator given the caveats behind its calculation.
With respect to the recent INTEGRAL/IBIS 9-year Galactic Hard X-ray Survey (Krivonos et al. 2012), we use archival Swift/XRT observations in conjunction with multi-wavelength information to discuss the counterparts of a sample of newly discovered objects. The X-ray telescope (XRT, 0.3-10 keV) on board Swift, thanks to its few arcseconds source location accuracy, has been proven to be a powerful tool with which the X-ray counterparts to these IBIS sources can be searched for and studied. In this work, we present the outcome of this analysis by discussing four objects (SWIFT J0958.0-4208, SWIFT J1508.6-4953, IGR J17157-5449, and IGR J22534+6243) having either X-ray data of sufficient quality to perform a reliable spectral analysis or having interesting multiwaveband properties. We find that SWIFT J1508.6-4953 is most likely a Blazar, while IGR J22534+6243 is probably a HMXB. The remaining two objects may be contaminated by nearby X-ray sources and their class can be inferred only by means of optical follow-up observations of all likely counterparts.
We report on the hard X-ray burst and the first ~100 days NICER monitoring of the soft X-ray temporal and spectral evolution of the newly-discovered magnetar Swift J1818.0-1607. The burst properties are typical of magnetars with a duration of $T_{90}=10pm4$ ms and a temperature of $kT=8.4pm0.7$ keV. The 2--8 keV pulse shows a broad, single peak profile with a pulse fraction increasing with time from 30% to 43%. The NICER observations reveal strong timing noise with $dot{ u}$ varying erratically by a factor of 10, with an average long-term spin-down rate of $dot{ u}=(-2.48pm0.03)times10^{-11}$~s$^{-2}$, implying an equatorial surface magnetic field of $2.5times10^{14}$ G and a young characteristic age of $sim$470 yr. We detect a large spin-up glitch at MJD 58928.56 followed by a candidate spin-down glitch at MJD 58934.81, with no accompanying flux enhancements. The persistent soft X-ray spectrum of Swift~J1818.0-1607 can be modeled as an absorbed blackbody with a temperature of ~1 keV. Its flux decayed by ~60% while the modeled emitting area decreased by ~30% over the NICER observing campaign. This decrease, coupled with the increase in the pulse fraction points to a shrinking hot spot on the neutron star surface. Assuming a distance of 6.5 kpc, we measure a peak X-ray luminosity of $1.9times10^{35}$ erg/s, lower than its spin-down luminosity of $7.2times10^{35}$ erg/s. Its quiescent thermal luminosity is $lesssim 1.7times10^{34}$ erg/s, lower than those of canonical young magnetars. We conclude that Swift J1818.0-1607 is an important link between regular magnetars and high magnetic field rotation powered pulsars.
New radio (MeerKAT and Parkes) and X-ray (XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR) observations of PSR J1622-4950 indicate that the magnetar, in a quiescent state since at least early 2015, reactivated between 2017 March 19 and April 5. The radio flux density, while variable, is approximately 100x larger than during its dormant state. The X-ray flux one month after reactivation was at least 800x larger than during quiescence, and has been decaying exponentially on a 111+/-19 day timescale. This high-flux state, together with a radio-derived rotational ephemeris, enabled for the first time the detection of X-ray pulsations for this magnetar. At 5%, the 0.3-6 keV pulsed fraction is comparable to the smallest observed for magnetars. The overall pulsar geometry inferred from polarized radio emission appears to be broadly consistent with that determined 6-8 years earlier. However, rotating vector model fits suggest that we are now seeing radio emission from a different location in the magnetosphere than previously. This indicates a novel way in which radio emission from magnetars can differ from that of ordinary pulsars. The torque on the neutron star is varying rapidly and unsteadily, as is common for magnetars following outburst, having changed by a factor of 7 within six months of reactivation.
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