Transient X-ray emission, with an approximate t−0.7 decay, was observed from SGR 1900+14 over 40 days following the the giant flare of 27 Aug 1998. We calculate in detail the diffusion of heat to the surface of a neutron star through an intense 1014 − 1015 G magnetic field, following the release of magnetic energy in its outer layers. We show that the power law index, the fraction of burst ener...

I will review the latest developments in understanding the high-energy emission of rotation-powered pulsars and magnetically-powered Anomalous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs) and Soft Gamma-Ray Repeaters (SGRs). These fields have been extremely active in the last few years, both observationally and theoretically, driven partly by new X-ray data from Chandra, XMM-Newton and RXTE. At the same time, the Park...

The recently discovered soft gamma-ray emission from the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1E 1841-045 has a luminosity Lγ ∼ 1036 ergs s−1. This luminosity exceeds the spindown power by three orders of magnitude and must be fed by an alternative source of energy such as an ultrastrong magnetic field. A gradual release of energy in the stellar magnetosphere is expected if it is twisted and a strong electri...

We investigate the gravitational wave background produced by magnetars. The statistical properties of these highly magnetized stars were derived by population synthesis methods and assumed to be also representative of extragalactic objects. The adopted ellipticity was calculated from relativistic models using equations of state and assumptions concerning the distribution of currents in the neut...