A magnetar giant flare in the nearby starburst galaxy M82

Sandro Mereghetti (), Michela Rigoselli, Ruben Salvaterra, Dominik Patryk Pacholski, James Craig Rodi, Diego Gotz, Edoardo Arrigoni, Paolo D’Avanzo, Christophe Adami, Angela Bazzano, Enrico Bozzo, Riccardo Brivio, Sergio Campana, Enrico Cappellaro, Jerome Chenevez, Fiore Luise, Lorenzo Ducci, Paolo Esposito, Carlo Ferrigno, Matteo Ferro, Gian Luca Israel, Emeric Floc’h, Antonio Martin-Carrillo, Francesca Onori, Nanda Rea, Andrea Reguitti, Volodymyr Savchenko, Damya Souami, Leonardo Tartaglia, William Thuillot, Andrea Tiengo, Lina Tomasella, Martin Topinka, Damien Turpin and Pietro Ubertini
Additional contact information
Sandro Mereghetti: INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano
Michela Rigoselli: INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano
Ruben Salvaterra: INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano
Dominik Patryk Pacholski: INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano
James Craig Rodi: INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali di Roma
Diego Gotz: AIM
Edoardo Arrigoni: INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano
Paolo D’Avanzo: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
Christophe Adami: LAM
Angela Bazzano: INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali di Roma
Enrico Bozzo: Department of Astronomy
Riccardo Brivio: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
Sergio Campana: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
Enrico Cappellaro: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
Jerome Chenevez: Technical University of Denmark
Fiore Luise: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo
Lorenzo Ducci: Department of Astronomy
Paolo Esposito: INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano
Carlo Ferrigno: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
Matteo Ferro: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
Gian Luca Israel: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma
Emeric Floc’h: AIM
Antonio Martin-Carrillo: University College Dublin
Francesca Onori: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo
Nanda Rea: Campus UAB
Andrea Reguitti: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
Volodymyr Savchenko: Department of Astronomy
Damya Souami: Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris
Leonardo Tartaglia: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo
William Thuillot: Institut de mecanique celeste et de calcul des ephemerides (IMCCE) UMR 8028 du CNRS - Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL
Andrea Tiengo: INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano
Lina Tomasella: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
Martin Topinka: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari
Damien Turpin: AIM
Pietro Ubertini: INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali di Roma

Nature, 2024, vol. 629, issue 8010, 58-61

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07285-4

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