The Anomalous X-ray Pulsars
Abstract
The Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) are a small class of pulsars with spin periods in the 6-12 s range, very soft X-ray spectra, secular spin down on time scales of ~103-105 years, and lack of bright optical counterparts. Two, possibly three, of them are close to the centre of shell-like supernova remnants. AXPs are one of the most enigmatic classes of galactic high-energy sources. Isolated neutron stars powered by the loss of rotational energy can be excluded on energetic grounds. The models based on neutron stars involve either accretion (perhaps from a fossil disk around an isolated neutron star) or the decay of a very strong magnetic field (1014-1015 G). We review the models and the observational properties of AXPs, including recent XMM-Newton and Chandra observations. We also present some unpublished ASCA data.
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