Yuki Kaneko

The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) has been in operation for over 17 yr, during which it has observed more than 1000 bursts from soft gamma repeaters (SGRs), also known as magnetars. Serving as a laboratory for extreme physics, magnetars are a subfamily of neutron stars characterized by extreme magnetic field strength, observed through a combination of persistent and short transient emission across the electromagnetic spectrum. We present the comprehensive GBM catalog of SGR short bursts, which supersedes the 5 yr catalog of A. C. Collazzi et al. The new catalog contains 1254 SGR short bursts observed over 17 yr, providing the longest uninterrupted, high-sensitivity, all-sky monitoring of magnetar bursts with unprecedented spectral and temporal resolution. Our catalog contains bursts from 17 unique Galactic sources, with major contributions by bursts from SGR J1935+2154 and SGR J1550–5418. We present overall characteristics of these bursts, such as the durations, spectral parameters for various photon models, and fluxes, as well as their comparison with recently published catalogs of other missions and the previous GBM magnetar catalog. The machine-readable catalog, as well as burst spectra and response files, are made publicly available for the community.

The Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has produced the largest database of all-sky observations in gamma rays with its continuous data with high time and energy resolutions. These data contain a wealth of unidentified transient events that did not trigger the detectors for various reasons. We conducted extensive searches to identify such untriggered transient events observed by GBM during the 11 yr period of 2010 July–2021 June. In particular, we employed four different search modes with various energy ranges (mainly below 300 keV) and time resolutions (from 8 ms to 2 s), utilizing three statistical methods (signal-to-noise ratio, Poisson, and Bayesian statistics), each with different effectiveness in identifying specific classes of transients. Moreover, we developed algorithms for known event flagging as well as unknown event classification for our candidate events found in the searches. In this paper, we present our search methodologies, event flagging and classification algorithms, and the resulting comprehensive event catalog. The catalog contains more than a million events in total, including known events such as gamma-ray bursts, soft gamma repeater bursts, Galactic X-ray source activities, terrestrial gamma flashes, and solar flares. For each candidate event, the catalog presents the event time, detection significance, event duration, hardness ratios, known event flagging results, and classification probabilities. Our short-transient catalog significantly expands the currently existing list of known events and complements the GBM Trigger Catalog. The event database with filtering capabilities is also publicly available at https://magnetars.sabanciuniv.edu/gbm , which allows users to retrieve event information based on their input queries along with the event lightcurves.

The Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on board Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has produced the largest database of all-sky observations in gamma rays with its continuous data with high time and energy resolutions. These data contain a wealth of unidentified transient events that did not trigger the detectors for various reasons. We conducted extensive searches to identify such untriggered transient events observed with GBM in 11 years (July 2010 - June 2021). In particular, we employed four different search modes with various energy ranges (mainly below 300 keV) and time resolutions (from 8 ms to 2 s), utilizing three statistical methods (signal-to-noise ratio, Poisson, and Bayesian statistics), each with different effectiveness in identifying specific classes of transients. Moreover, we developed algorithms for known-event flagging as well as unknown-event classification for our candidate events found in the searches. In this paper, we present our search methodologies, event flagging and classification algorithms and the resulting comprehensive event catalog. The catalog contains more than a million events in total, including known events such as gamma-ray bursts, soft-gamma repeater bursts, galactic X-ray source activities, terrestrial gamma flashes, and solar flares. For each candidate event, the catalog presents the event time, detection significance, event duration, hardness ratios, known-event flagging results, and classification probabilities. Our short-transient catalog significantly expands the currently-existing list of known events and complements the GBM trigger catalog. The event database with filtering capabilities is also publicly available at https://magnetars.sabanciuniv.edu/gbm, which allows users to retrieve event information based on their input queries along with the event lightcurves.

Context. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful explosions in the Universe; their energy release reaches us from the end of the re-ionisation era, making them invaluable cosmological probes. GRB 230307A is the second brightest GRB ever observed in the 56 years of observations since the discovery of the phenomenon in 1967. Follow-up observations of the event at longer wavelengths have revealed a lanthanide-rich kilonova with long-lasting X-ray emission immediately following the prompt gamma-rays. Moreover, the gamma-ray light curve of GRB 230307A exhibits high amplitude variability, especially within the first 15 s. Aims. We performed a timing analysis of the prompt emission of GRB 230307A collected with INTEGRAL’s SPectrometer of INTEGRAL AntiCoincidence Shield (SPI-ACS) and Fermi’s Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GBM). Methods. We used Fourier analysis, wavelets, and Gaussian processes. We critically assessed all three methods in terms of their robustness for detections of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in fast transients such as GRBs. Results. Our analyses reveal QPOs at a frequency of ∼1.2 Hz (0.82 s period) near the burst’s peak emission phase, consistent across instruments and detection methods. We also identify a second, less significant QPO at ∼2.9 Hz (0.34 s) nearly simultaneously. We hypothesise that the two QPOs originate from the transition epoch at the end of the jet acceleration phase. These QPOs represent plasma circulation periods in vorticity about the jet axis carried outwards to the prompt radiation zone at much larger radii. They are sampled by colliding structures (e.g. shocks) in the spinning jet, possibly marking the evolution of plasma rotation during the final stages of the progenitor neutron star coalescence event.

We have conducted a time-resolved spectral analysis of magnetar bursts originating from SGR J1550−5418. Our analysis utilizes a two-step methodology for temporal segmentation of the data. We first generated and fitted overlapping time segments. Subsequently, we obtained nonoverlapping time segments with varying lengths based on their spectral evolution patterns, employing a machine learning algorithm called k-means clustering. For the fitting process, we employed three distinct models, namely a modified blackbody (MBB-RCS), a double blackbody (BB+BB), and a power law with an exponential cutoff (COMPT) model. We found that nearly all of the time segments fit well with the COMPT model. Both the average peak energy in the νF _ν spectra (E _peak) and photon index parameters follow a Gaussian distribution with means ∼30 keV and −0.5, respectively. Furthermore, there is a strong positive correlation between the cooler and hotter temperature parameters of the BB+BB model, and both parameters show a Gaussian distribution with peaks ∼4 and 12 keV, respectively. Additionally, we found that the distribution of the temperature parameter of the MBB-RCS model can be fit with a skewed Gaussian function with a peak ∼9–10 keV. Lastly, we searched for quasiperiodic spectral oscillations (QPSOs) in the hardness ratio evolution of the bursts. We identified five potential QPSO candidates at frequencies ranging from ∼15 to ∼68 Hz. We discuss and compare these results with previous studies.

SGR J1935+2154 has truly been the most prolific magnetar over the last decade: it has been entering into burst active episodes once every 1–2 yr since its discovery in 2014, it emitted the first Galactic fast radio burst associated with an X-ray burst in 2020, and it has emitted hundreds of energetic short bursts. Here, we present the time-resolved spectral analysis of 51 bright bursts from SGR J1935+2154. Unlike conventional time-resolved X-ray spectroscopic studies in the literature, we follow a two-step approach to probe true spectral evolution. For each burst, we first extract spectral information from overlapping time segments, fit them with three continuum models, and employ a machine-learning-based clustering algorithm to identify time segments that provide the largest spectral variations during each burst. We then extract spectra from those nonoverlapping (clustered) time segments and fit them again with the three models: the cutoff power-law model, the sum of two blackbody functions, and the model considering the emission of a modified blackbody undergoing resonant cyclotron scattering, which is applied systematically at this scale for the first time. Our novel technique allowed us to establish the genuine spectral evolution of magnetar bursts. We discuss the implications of our results and compare their collective behavior with the average burst properties of other magnetars.

Magnetars are young neutron stars powered by the strongest magnetic fields in the Universe (10^13–15 G). Their transient X-ray emission usually manifests as short (a few hundred milliseconds), bright, energetic (∼10^40–41 erg) X-ray bursts. Since its discovery in 2014, SGR J1935+2154 has become one of the most prolific magnetars, exhibiting very active bursting episodes and other fascinating events, such as pulse timing antiglitches and fast radio bursts. Here we present evidence for possible 42 Hz (24 ms) quasiperiodic oscillations in the ν F _ν spectrum peak energy (E _p ) identified in a unique burst detected with the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor in 2022 January. While quasiperiodic oscillations have been previously reported in the intensity of magnetar burst light curves, quasiperiodic oscillations in E _p have not. We also find an additional event from the same outburst that appears to exhibit a similar character in E _p , albeit of lower statistical quality. For these two exceptional transients, such E _p oscillations can be explained by magnetospheric density and pressure perturbations. For burst-emitting plasma consisting purely of e ⁺ e ⁻ pairs, these acoustic modes propagate along a highly magnetized flux tube of length up to around L ∼ 130 neutron star radii, with L being lower if ions are present in the emission zone. Detailed time-resolved analyses of other magnetar bursts are encouraged to evaluate the rarity of these events and their underlying mechanisms.

The detection of magnetar-like bursts from highly magnetic (B > 10¹³ G) rotation-powered pulsars (RPPs) opened the magnetar population to yet another group of neutron stars. At the same time the question arose as to whether magnetar-like bursts from high-B RPPs have similar characteristics to bursts from known magnetar sources. We present here our analyses of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) data from two magnetar candidates, Swift J1818.0−1607 (a radio-loud magnetar) and PSR J1846.4−0258. Both sources entered active bursting episodes in 2020 triggering Fermi-GBM in 2020 and in early 2021. We searched for untriggered bursts from both sources and performed temporal and spectral analyses on all events. Here, we present the results of our comprehensive burst search and analyses. We identified 37 and 58 bursts that likely originated from Swift J1818.0−1607 and PSR J1846.4−0258, respectively. We find that the bursts from these sources are shorter on average than typical magnetar bursts. In addition, their spectra are best described with a single blackbody function with kT ∼ 10–11 keV; several relatively bright events, however, show higher energy emission that could be modeled with a cutoff power-law model. We find that the correlation between the blackbody emitting area and the spectral temperature for the burst ensemble of each pulsar deviates from the ideal Stefan–Boltzmann law, as it does for some burst-active magnetars. We interpret this characteristic as being due to the significant radiation anisotropy expected from optically thick plasmas in very strong magnetic fields.