MAGNETARS ARE AMONGST THE MOST EXTREME ASTROPHYSICAL SOURCES IN THE UNIVERSE. WITH THEIR HIGH DENSITIES AND MAGNETIC FIELD STRENGTHS THEY ARE AN IDEAL TEST CASE FOR FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL PROCESSES. FURTHERMORE THEY HAVE RECENTLY BEEN FOUND TO BE THE PROGENITORS FOR SOME FAST RADIO BURSTS (FRBS). WITH ONLY 29 KNOWN MAGNETARS THE MECHANISMS FOR THEIR GAMMA-RAY EMISSION IS NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD. THE FERMI GAMMA-RAY BURST MONITOR (GBM) IS AN IDEAL INSTRUMENT IN DETECTING OUTBURSTS OF GAMMA RAYS FROM MAGNETARS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO OPTIMIZE THE GBM TARGETED SEARCH TO SEARCH FOR SUBTHRESHOLD MAGNETAR OUTBURSTS AND COINCIDENT GAMMA-RAY EMISSION TO FRBS. IN ORDER TO DO THIS THE TEMPORAL AND SPECTRAL PROPERTIES OF KNOWN MAGNETARS WILL BE STUDIED TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT NEW PARAMETERS TO THE SEARCH.
$43,324FY2021National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Universities Space Research Association, Washington DC