Abstract
We suggest that neutron stars with fields much stronger than BQED=m2ec3/eℏ=4.4×1013 G are the source of the March 5 event and the soft gamma repeater (SGR) bursts. Crustal fractures driven by magnetic stresses in young magnetars (age ≤104 yr) release enough energy to power the SGR events. A much more energetic burst, preceded by a hard initial transient (as in the March 5 event) is triggered by a large scale readjustment of the stellar field. The cooling of a pair plasma trapped in the stellar magnetosphere results in hyper‐Eddington, quasi‐black body emission with a simple light curve and weak spectral evolution, in agreement with observations of both SGR bursts and the soft tail of the March 5th event. We outline five separate lines of reasoning which indicate B≥1014 G for the March 5 burster.
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