# Reactivation and Precise IPN Localization of the Soft Gamma Repeater SGR1900+14

## 1 Introduction

The soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) differ from the classical gamma-ray bursts by their durations (typically 0.1–1 s), soft spectra ($`\mathrm{kT}35\mathrm{keV}`$), and their repetition. Four SGRs are now known, and there is evidence that all of them are associated with supernova remnants (SNRs), and are therefore neutron stars. The source of the well-known 1979 March 5 burst, SGR0525-66, is consistent with the position of the N49 supernova remnant in the Large Magallanic Cloud (Cline et al. 1982). SGR1806-20 (Atteia et al. 1987) is associated with the SNR G10.0-0.3, located towards the galactic center (Kulkarni & Frail 1993; Kouveliotou et al. 1994; Kulkarni et al. 1994; Murakami et al. 1994). SGR1627-41 may be associated with G337.0-0.1 (Hurley et al. 1998a,b; Woods et al., 1998).

SGR1900+14 is located near the galactic plane and was, until 1998 May, the least active of the SGRs (Hurley 1996), hindering attempts to locate the source accurately. Two possible small error boxes for SGR1900+14 were obtained by Hurley et al. (1994) with the network synthesis method, using the Interplanetary Network (IPN) data from Ulysses and BATSE. The location of the first is very close to the SNR G42.8+0.6, suggested as one of two possible SNRs associated with this object by Kouveliotou et al. (1994). Both the ROSAT sky survey (Vasisht et al. 1994) and a pointed observation at this position (Hurley et al. 1996a) indicated that a point-like quiescent X-ray source was associated with this error box. Optical and infrared observations of the X-ray position revealed a peculiar double M star system (Vrba et al. 1996). No ROSAT source was detected in the second error box, which lies 3.75<sup>o</sup> from the first. (Li et al. 1997). SGR1900+14 underwent an extraordinary resumption of activity starting in 1998 May and triangulation using IPN data (Ulysses , BATSE, and KONUS-Wind in this case) has now reduced the possible source location to a single, 1.6 square arcminute error box consistent with the ROSAT quiescent source.

## 2 Source Activity

SGR1900+14 was discovered when it burst three times in 1979 (Mazets et al. 1979). It was not heard from again until 1992, when it emitted four bursts (Kouveliotou et al. 1993). It then lay dormant again until 1998 May 26, when it began a series of more than 50 bursts over the next several months (Kouveliotou et al. 1998a), culminating in the giant flare of 1998 August 27 (Hurley et al. 1998c). The source remains active as of this writing. In addition to these events, which were confirmed either by their BATSE and/or IPN localizations, over 30 bursts have occurred which are suspected to originate from this source, but for which no locations can be derived. It is also possible that numerous weak bursts could have occurred during periods of BATSE Earth occultation, which would have been below the thresholds of Ulysses and KONUS-Wind.

The time histories of most of these events consisted of a single peak with duration $``$ 100 ms (figure 1). However, on 1998 May 30 the source emitted a 320 s long burst consisting of multiple peaks, many with structures and/or durations longer than 100 ms (Kouveliotou et al. 1998a; figure 1). ”Bunching” of bursts had previously been reported from SGR1806-20 (Kouveliotou et al. 1996). However, whereas the bursts from SGR1806-20 were observed by the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer PCA in the 2-60 keV range, and came at a rate of $``$1 per minute, the bunching observed from SGR1900+14 was in the hard X-ray range, 25-300 keV, and came at a rate up to one every several seconds. At least three BATSE events during this period reached peak 25 - 300 keV luminosities of $`1000L_{Edd}`$, considerably greater than the XTE events. Thus this type of event appears to be unique to SGRs.

## 3 Source location

We have localized this source by triangulation. Specifically, each Ulysses event for which there was a BATSE and/or a KONUS-Wind response was used to produce an annulus of possible arrival directions. The method is explained in more detail in Hurley et al. (1998d), and Table 1 lists the events triangulated to date. However, there are two aspects which make the localization of SGRs in general, and this SGR in particular, unique. First, it is the first time since the launch of Ulysses in 1990 that the bursts from SGR1900+14 have been intense enough to trigger the GRB detector on this spacecraft, providing 32 ms time resolution data which can be used for precise triangulation, and second, this period of activity lasted long enough that the changing direction of the Ulysses \- Earth vector, which is the center of the triangulation annulus, made it possible to derive annuli which crossed one another, generating a small error box. For simplicity, we have defined this error box with only two $`24\mathrm{}`$ wide annuli, one from 1998 May 26, and the other from 1998 July 19. Although all the events in Table 1 produced annuli which are consistent with it, they are in some cases redundant, and in others, wider than the two we have selected due to low time resolution data.

Figure 2 shows the new localization and the VLA <sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1 The Very Large Array is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. radio contours of G42.8+0.6. The ROSAT quiescent X-ray source error circle is also shown. This error box is consistent with the previous ones, but the area has decreased from $``$3.5 square degrees (Mazets et al. error box quoted in Kouveliotou et al. 1993) to $``$10 square arcminutes (for the two widely separated network synthesis error boxes), to $``$1.6 square arcminutes. (for the single error box derived from the recent source activity). Table 2 gives the coordinates of the conservatively estimated 3 $`\sigma `$ confidence error box corners. The error box center is at $`\alpha (2000)=286.8120,\delta (2000)=9.3283^o`$.

It has been suggested that the superluminal galactic source GRS1915+105 is responsible for the bursts from SGR1900+14 (Mirabel 1994a,b). The error box in Table 2, however, lies $`2.5^\mathrm{o}`$ from this source, definitively excluding it as a candidate.

## 4 Discussion

Since an SNR-SGR connection exists for three SGRs, it seems likely that SGR1900+14 is also associated with an SNR. Similarly, since at least two SGRs have quiescent soft X-ray sources associated with them (SGR0525-66 and SGR1806-20), it is likely that the ROSAT source in the error box of SGR1900+14 is associated with this SGR (further evidence for this association is presented in Hurley et al. 1998e). The X-ray source is clearly not located within the radio contours of G42.8+0.6 (figure 2), and this poses an interesting question. If the two are associated, the neutron star would have to have a transverse velocity v(km/s)=276 D(kpc) $`\theta `$(arcminutes)/A (kyr) where D is the distance to the supernova remnant, $`\theta `$ is the angular separation between the site of the supernova explosion and the neutron star, and A is the remnant’s age (e.g. Hurley et al. 1996b). The actual velocity might be $`\sqrt{3/2}`$ this much. The distance to G42.8+0.6 has been estimated as 5 kpc using the luminosity-diameter relation (e.g Vasisht et al. 1994), which is probably uncertain by a factor of 2. However, it agrees with an independent estimate from the n<sub>H</sub> as measured from the quiescent X-ray spectrum (Hurley et al. 1998e). The angular separation is difficult to judge because G42.8+0.6 is highly asymmetrical. Reasonable estimates might range from 7 - 20 $`\mathrm{}`$. Finally, the age is probably less than 20,000 y, or the SNR would not be detectable (Braun, Goss, and Lyne 1983), and might be as young as 5,000 y. This leads to a wide range of possible velocities, from 480 to 5,500 km/s, even the lowest of which are rather high. This may be compared to the estimated velocity of SGR0525-66, which is 1200 km/s (Thompson and Duncan 1995), and that of SGR1806-20, $`>`$500 km/s (Kulkarni et al. 1994). How did the neutron star acquire this velocity?

Elsewhere, evidence has been presented that SGR1900+14 may be a magnetar (Kouveliotou et al. 1998c; Hurley et al., 1998c), i.e. a neutron star with a field strength in excess of 10<sup>14</sup> G. If the magnetar model is basically correct, it may provide an explanation for the high velocity of this object (Thompson and Duncan 1995): the strong field may bring about an anisotropy in the neutrino radiation of the newly formed neutron star. Moreover, since magnetar lifetimes are expected to be of the order of 10,000 years, they are detectable over shorter times than supernova remnants. Thus the magnetar model constrains one to accept the hypothesis that SGR1900+14 originated in the SNR G42.8+0.6. The only other possibility is that it originated in an SNR which is presently undetectable, contradicting the lifetime arguments.

As SGR1900+14 remains active, it is possible that this error box can be refined further in the future. Such error boxes will provide interesting calibrations of the triangulation technique. However, in view of the present error box, as well as the 5.16 s periodicity observed in the quiescent X-ray source (Hurley et al. 1998e) and the bursting SGR (Hurley et al. 1998c), the association between the quiescent source and the SGR may be considered to be secure.

KH is grateful to NASA for support under the CGRO Guest Investigator Program (NAG 5-1560), and to JPL for support of Ulysses (Contract 958056). CK acknowledges support under the CGRO guest investigator program (NAG 5-2560). We are indebted to D. Frail for providing the VLA map in figure 2. At the Ioffe Institute this work was partially supported by an RSA contract and by RFBR grant 96-02-16860.