Implications of the Narrow Period Distribution of Anomalous X-ray Pulsars and Soft Gamma-Ray Repeaters

Abstract

The spin periods of the ten observed Anomalous X-ray Pulsars and Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters lie in the very narrow range 6-12 s. We use a point likelihood technique to assess the constraints this clustering imposes on the birth period and on the final period of such systems. We consider a general law for their spin evolution described by a constant braking index. We find that, for positive values of the braking index, the observed clustering requires an upper cut-off period that is very close to the maximum observed period of about 12 s. We also show that the constraint on the birth period depends very strongly on the assumed value of the braking index n, ranging from a few milliseconds for n>2 to a few seconds for n<2. We discuss the possible ways of tightening these constraints based on similarities with the population of radio pulsars and with future observations of such sources with current X-ray observatories.