| Challenge the most extreme magnets of the Universe "Magnetars" are neutron stars with a magnetic field 10000000 times stronger than what we can produce in the laboratories on Earth. This research is aimed at unveiling why they are such strong X-ray emitters and test the physics we cannot test anywhere else. This research proposal is aimed at unveil the emission properties of matter embedded in magnetic field close or stronger than the electron critical magnetic field of about 4x10^{13} Gauss, at which the cyclotron energy of an electron reaches the electron rest mass energy. There are only a handful of places in the Universe where we can test our theories concerning these very high magnetic fields, and those are a few peculiar neutron stars: the ''magnetars'', one of the rotating radio transients, a few the dim isolated neutron stars and the so called high-B radio pulsars. Observing these sources is our only chance to study the physical processes, as well as the behaviour of free particles, atoms, molecules, plasma and condensed matter in strong magnetic fields, photon propagation in magnetised plasmas, free-particle radiative processes, the physics of neutron star interiors and crusts, and magnetic field evolution and decay mechanisms. This research proposal wants to approach this study through observations and modelling of the energy spectra of these few objects from their radio to gamma--rays emission. |
