An expanding radio nebula produced by a giant flare from the magnetar SGR 1806-20

B. M. Gaensler; C. Kouveliotou; J. D. Gelfand; G. B. Taylor; D. Eichler; R. A. M. J. Wijers; J. Granot; E. Ramirez-Ruiz; Y. E. Lyubarsky; R. W. Hunstead; D. Campbell-Wilson; A. J. van der Host; M. A. McLaughlin; R. P. Fender; M. A. Garrett; K. J. Newton-McGee; D. M. Palmer; N. Gehrels; P. M. Woods

doi:10.1038/nature03498

arXiv · astro-ph/0502393

An expanding radio nebula produced by a giant flare from the magnetar SGR 1806-20

B. M. Gaensler·C. Kouveliotou·J. D. Gelfand·G. B. Taylor·D. Eichler·R. A. M. J. Wijers·J. Granot·E. Ramirez-Ruiz·Y. E. Lyubarsky·R. W. Hunstead·D. Campbell-Wilson·A. J. van der Host·M. A. McLaughlin·R. P. Fender·M. A. Garrett·K. J. Newton-McGee·D. M. Palmer·N. Gehrels·P. M. Woods

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) are "magnetars", a small class of slowly spinning neutron stars with extreme surface magnetic fields, ~10^15 gauss. On 2004 December 27, a giant flare was detected from the magnetar SGR 1806-20, the third such event ever recorded. This burst of energy was detected by a variety of instruments and even caused an ionospheric disturbance in the Earth's upper atmosphere recorded around the globe. Here we report the detection of a fading radio afterglow produced by this outburst, with a luminosity 500 times larger than the only other detection of a similar source. From day 6 to day 19 after the flare from SGR 1806-20, a resolved, linearly polarized, radio nebula was seen, expanding at approximately a quarter the speed of light. To create this nebula, at least 4x10^43 ergs of energy must have been emitted by the giant flare in the form of magnetic fields and relativistic particles. The combination of spatially resolved structure and rapid time evolution allows a study in unprecedented detail of a nearby analog to supernovae and gamma-ray bursts.

Explore related subjects

astro-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

B. M. Gaensler, C. Kouveliotou, J. D. Gelfand, G. B. Taylor, D. Eichler, R. A. M. J. Wijers, J. Granot, E. Ramirez-Ruiz, Y. E. Lyubarsky, R. W. Hunstead, D. Campbell-Wilson, A. J. van der Host, M. A. McLaughlin, R. P. Fender, M. A. Garrett, K. J. Newton-McGee, D. M. Palmer, N. Gehrels, P. M. Woods. 2005-05-22. An expanding radio nebula produced by a giant flare from the magnetar SGR 1806-20. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03498

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Frame covariance of CMBR lensing in the exact 1+3 covariant radiation hierarchy

The exact $1+3$ covariant Boltzmann hierarchy for the cosmic microwave background contains acceleration, shear and vorticity couplings whose coefficients grow linearly in $\ell$. We show that all are the multipole form of the aberration operator in the photon Liouville equation. Under a change of threading, this operator shifts by the along-ray generator of a Lorentz boost. The acceleration coupling of $\ell$ to $\ell\pm1$ and the shear coupling of $\ell$ to $\ell\pm2$ are therefore frame-covariant descriptions of the same operator, related by an algebraic, pointwise relabelling of direction. With emitter and observer frames fixed, the observed sky is independent of the intermediate threading at every $\ell$. We derive this in $1+3$ covariant and gauge-invariant variables without constructing second-order gauge-invariant variables. The $O(ε^2\ell)$ content is gravitational lensing, as known in metric variables. Linearisation about a Friedmann--Lemaître--Robertson--Walker background removes these couplings, requiring lensing to be reinstated from the geodesic equation. Keeping the threading arbitrary makes frame covariance explicit and places observer aberration in the same operator. In the Newtonian threading we compute both halves of the deflection: the equivalence-principle contribution enters through aberration, while the spatial-curvature contribution arises from free streaming on perturbed spatial sections and reduces to the same operator. The lensing efficiency follows from the direction derivative. The angular-power-spectrum contribution is quartic in the potential: for a deflection statistically independent of the source, the two fourth-order terms carrying $\ell^2$ cancel where the spectrum is smooth on the deflection scale, and lensing redistributes power without adding ensemble variance.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2026

Cosmic Conundrums with Quantum Corrections

Darh energy was discovered over 25 years ago and we do not have an explanation of it. Dark matter comprises 95% of matter in the universe and we still don't know what it is. The Webb telescope has been finding fully formed galaxies with massive black holes millions of times the mass of the sun in the early universe and we don't have any explanation. A quantum density limitation will be used to solve these and other outstanding problems.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2026

On binary pulsars and the force of gravity

The energy-momentum budget of the astrophysical systems can be studied by the exact local conservation equation derived by Landau and Lifshitz. We show that a similar equation is valid for the Einstein-Cartan gravity. We reanalyze a binary pulsar system using the Landau-Lifshitz conservation equation and show that the orbital period change rate can be completely understood as a curvature backreaction process. Taking into account the detailed theoretical and observational research of relativistic binary pulsar systems, especially the system of Hulse and Taylor, we conclude that general relativity and astrophysical observations rule out the existence of gravitational radiation. We comment upon the LIGO GW events and their alternative explanation, as well as the recent pulsar timing arrays data.

astro-ph↗