Magnetar giant flares are rare explosive events releasing up to 1047 erg in gamma rays in less than 1 second from young neutron stars with magnetic fields up to 1015−16 G (refs. 1,2). Only three such flares have been seen from magnetars in our Galaxy3,4 and in the Large Magellanic Cloud5 in roughly 50 years. This small sample can be enlarged by the discovery of extragalactic events, as for a fraction of a second giant flares reach luminosities above 1046 erg s−1, which makes them visible up to a few tens of megaparsecs. However, at these distances they are difficult to distinguish from short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs); much more distant and energetic (1050−53 erg) events, originating in compact binary mergers6. A few short GRBs have been proposed7–11, with different amounts of confidence, as candidate giant magnetar flares in nearby galaxies. Here we report observations of GRB 231115A, positionally coincident with the starburst galaxy M82 (ref. 12). Its spectral properties, along with the length of the burst, the limits on its X-ray and optical counterparts obtained within a few hours, and the lack of a gravitational wave signal, unambiguously qualify this burst as a giant flare from a magnetar in M82.
%0 Journal Article
%1 mereghetti2024magnetar
%A Mereghetti, Sandro
%A Rigoselli, Michela
%A Salvaterra, Ruben
%A Pacholski, Dominik Patryk
%A Rodi, James Craig
%A Gotz, Diego
%A Arrigoni, Edoardo
%A D’Avanzo, Paolo
%A Adami, Christophe
%A Bazzano, Angela
%A Bozzo, Enrico
%A Brivio, Riccardo
%A Campana, Sergio
%A Cappellaro, Enrico
%A Chenevez, Jerome
%A De Luise, Fiore
%A Ducci, Lorenzo
%A Esposito, Paolo
%A Ferrigno, Carlo
%A Ferro, Matteo
%A Israel, Gian Luca
%A Le Floc’h, Emeric
%A Martin-Carrillo, Antonio
%A Onori, Francesca
%A Rea, Nanda
%A Reguitti, Andrea
%A Savchenko, Volodymyr
%A Souami, Damya
%A Tartaglia, Leonardo
%A Thuillot, William
%A Tiengo, Andrea
%A Tomasella, Lina
%A Topinka, Martin
%A Turpin, Damien
%A Ubertini, Pietro
%D 2024
%J Nature
%K astrophysics magnetar transient_phenomena
%N 8010
%P 58--61
%R 10.1038/s41586-024-07285-4
%T A magnetar giant flare in the nearby starburst galaxy M82
%U https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07285-4
%V 629
%X Magnetar giant flares are rare explosive events releasing up to 1047 erg in gamma rays in less than 1 second from young neutron stars with magnetic fields up to 1015−16 G (refs. 1,2). Only three such flares have been seen from magnetars in our Galaxy3,4 and in the Large Magellanic Cloud5 in roughly 50 years. This small sample can be enlarged by the discovery of extragalactic events, as for a fraction of a second giant flares reach luminosities above 1046 erg s−1, which makes them visible up to a few tens of megaparsecs. However, at these distances they are difficult to distinguish from short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs); much more distant and energetic (1050−53 erg) events, originating in compact binary mergers6. A few short GRBs have been proposed7–11, with different amounts of confidence, as candidate giant magnetar flares in nearby galaxies. Here we report observations of GRB 231115A, positionally coincident with the starburst galaxy M82 (ref. 12). Its spectral properties, along with the length of the burst, the limits on its X-ray and optical counterparts obtained within a few hours, and the lack of a gravitational wave signal, unambiguously qualify this burst as a giant flare from a magnetar in M82.
@article{mereghetti2024magnetar,
abstract = {Magnetar giant flares are rare explosive events releasing up to 1047 erg in gamma rays in less than 1 second from young neutron stars with magnetic fields up to 1015−16 G (refs. 1,2). Only three such flares have been seen from magnetars in our Galaxy3,4 and in the Large Magellanic Cloud5 in roughly 50 years. This small sample can be enlarged by the discovery of extragalactic events, as for a fraction of a second giant flares reach luminosities above 1046 erg s−1, which makes them visible up to a few tens of megaparsecs. However, at these distances they are difficult to distinguish from short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs); much more distant and energetic (1050−53 erg) events, originating in compact binary mergers6. A few short GRBs have been proposed7–11, with different amounts of confidence, as candidate giant magnetar flares in nearby galaxies. Here we report observations of GRB 231115A, positionally coincident with the starburst galaxy M82 (ref. 12). Its spectral properties, along with the length of the burst, the limits on its X-ray and optical counterparts obtained within a few hours, and the lack of a gravitational wave signal, unambiguously qualify this burst as a giant flare from a magnetar in M82.},
added-at = {2024-05-04T23:09:12.000+0200},
author = {Mereghetti, Sandro and Rigoselli, Michela and Salvaterra, Ruben and Pacholski, Dominik Patryk and Rodi, James Craig and Gotz, Diego and Arrigoni, Edoardo and D’Avanzo, Paolo and Adami, Christophe and Bazzano, Angela and Bozzo, Enrico and Brivio, Riccardo and Campana, Sergio and Cappellaro, Enrico and Chenevez, Jerome and De Luise, Fiore and Ducci, Lorenzo and Esposito, Paolo and Ferrigno, Carlo and Ferro, Matteo and Israel, Gian Luca and Le Floc’h, Emeric and Martin-Carrillo, Antonio and Onori, Francesca and Rea, Nanda and Reguitti, Andrea and Savchenko, Volodymyr and Souami, Damya and Tartaglia, Leonardo and Thuillot, William and Tiengo, Andrea and Tomasella, Lina and Topinka, Martin and Turpin, Damien and Ubertini, Pietro},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2a27385e2504c5300fac437fd10562524/tabularii},
doi = {10.1038/s41586-024-07285-4},
interhash = {6f8518121321f34e2425de7f98702be3},
intrahash = {a27385e2504c5300fac437fd10562524},
issn = {14764687},
journal = {Nature},
keywords = {astrophysics magnetar transient_phenomena},
number = 8010,
pages = {58--61},
refid = {Mereghetti2024},
timestamp = {2024-05-04T23:10:25.000+0200},
title = {A magnetar giant flare in the nearby starburst galaxy M82},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07285-4},
volume = 629,
year = 2024
}