Search for gamma-ray emission from magnetars with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

A.A. Abdo , Markus Ackermann , Marco Ajello , A. Allafort , Luca Baldini , Jean Ballet (1) , Guido Barbiellini , M. G. Baring , D. Bastieri , R. Bellazzini , R. D. Blandford , E. D. Bloom , E. Bonamente , A. W. Borgland , A. Bouvier , J. Bregeon , M. Brigida , Pascal Bruel (2) , T. H. Burnett , G. A. Caliandro , R. A. Cameron , P. A. Caraveo , C. Cecchi , Ö. Çelik , S. Chaty (1) , A. Chekhtman , C. C. Cheung , J. Chiang , S. Ciprini , R. Claus , J. Conrad , P. R. den Hartog , C. D. Dermer , A. de Angelis , F. de Palma , R. Dib , M. Dormody , E. Do Couto E Silva , P. S. Drell , R. Dubois , D. Dumora (3) , T. Enoto , C. Favuzzi , M. Frailis , P. Fusco , F. Gargano , N. Gehrels , N. Giglietto , P. Giommi , F. Giordano , M. Giroletti , T. Glanzman , G. Godfrey , I. A. Grenier (1) , M.-H. Grondin (3) , S. Guiriec (4) , D. Hadasch , Y. Hanabata , A. K. Harding , E. Hays , G. L. Israel , G. Jóhannesson , A. S. Johnson , V. M. Kaspi , H. Katagiri , J. Kataoka , Jürgen Knödlseder (5) , M. Kuss , J. Lande , S.-H. Lee , M. Lemoine-Goumard (3) , F. Longo , F. Loparco , M. N. Lovellette , P. Lubrano , A. Makeev , M. Marelli , M. N. Mazziotta , J. E. Mcenery , J. Mehault (4) , P. F. Michelson , T. Mizuno , A. A. Moiseev , C. Monte , M. E. Monzani , A. Morselli , I. V. Moskalenko , S. Murgia , M. Naumann-Godo , P. L. Nolan , E. Nuss (4) , T. Ohsugi , A. Okumura , N. Omodei , E. Orlando , J. F. Ormes , M. Ozaki , D. Paneque , D. Parent (3) , M. Pepe , M. Pesce-Rollins , F. Piron (4) , T.A. Porter , S. Rainò , R. Rando , M. Razzano , N. Rea , A. Reimer , O. Reimer , T. Reposeur (3) , S. Ritz , H. F.-W. Sadrozinski , P. M. Saz Parkinson , C. Sgrò , E. J. Siskind , David Stanley Smith (3) , G. Spandre , P. Spinelli , M. S. Strickman , H. Takahashi , T. Tanaka , J. B. Thayer , D. J. Thompson , L. Tibaldo (1) , D. F. Torres , G. Tosti , A. Tramacere , E. Troja , Y. Uchiyama , T. L. Usher , J. Vandenbroucke , V. Vasileiou , G. Vianello , V. Vitale , A. P. Waite , B. L. Winer , K. S. Wood , Z. Yang , M. Ziegler

1 AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112) - Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation
2 LLR - Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet
3 CENBG - Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Bordeaux Gradignan
4 LPTA - Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Astroparticules
5 CESR - Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements

We report on the search for 0.1-10 GeV emission from magnetars in 17 months of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations. No significant evidence for gamma-ray emission from any of the currently-known magnetars is found. The most stringent upper limits to date on their persistent emission in the Fermi-LAT energy range are estimated between ~10^{-12}-10^{-10} erg/s/cm2, depending on the source. We also searched for gamma-ray pulsations and possible outbursts, also with no significant detection. The upper limits derived support the presence of a cut-off at an energy below a few MeV in the persistent emission of magnetars. They also show the likely need for a revision of current models of outer gap emission from strongly magnetized pulsars, which, in some realizations, predict detectable GeV emission from magnetars at flux levels exceeding the upper limits identified here using the Fermi-LAT observations.

Mots clés: magnetic fields; pulsars: individual (4U 0142+614; 1E 1048.1-5937; 1E 1841-045; 1E 1547-5408; 1RXS J1708-4009; XTE J1810-197; CXOU J1647-4552; 1E 2259+586; SGR 1900+14; SGR 1806-20; SGR 1627-41; SGR 0501+4516; SGR 0418+5729); stars: magnetars; gamma rays: stars

Domaines: Phénomènes cosmiques de haute energie [astro-ph.HE]; Phénomènes cosmiques de haute energie [astro-ph.HE]

A.A. Abdo, Markus Ackermann, Marco Ajello, A. Allafort, Luca Baldini, et al.. Search for gamma-ray emission from magnetars with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. The Astrophysical journal letters, 2010, 725, pp.L73-L78. ⟨10.1088/2041-8205/725/1/L73⟩. ⟨in2p3-00585162⟩