{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"3e3901e5a62c379e4ce52c85ef83ea332daa7c4c4c7138ee9afb732aed04c698","created":"2026-10-15T23:43:22Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["ce59fb6cd812fc05906d0c60a71c75ea22bc686bcf38e7c3ef7010834d98ee7b","d72d3a535bd9afa1ff93fb22190739124612a90d2893c4badf3b1faa250abce6"],"salt":"8606b56aa8c561c2027cb4d6de769f80204611cd8982b85b5f0daeab948d2894","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"mechanism","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"astro.pulsars-magnetars.flare-trigger","kind":"phenomenon","literature_status":"open","n":"2","parents":[],"plain":"Magnetars sometimes release up to about $10^{46}\\,\\mathrm{erg}$ in a fraction of a second, possibly when their solid crust cracks under magnetic stress or when twisted magnetic field outside the star suddenly reconnects.","posed_since":"1979","precise":"Giant flares (SGR 0526-66 in 1979, SGR 1900+14 in 1998, SGR 1806-20 in 2004 with $E \\sim 2 \\times 10^{46}\\,\\mathrm{erg}$, and the extragalactic GRB 200415A) and short bursts ($10^{37} \\text{ to } 10^{41}\\,\\mathrm{erg}$) require a trigger. Decide between crustal failure (starquakes, plastic flow) and magnetospheric instability or reconnection of twisted fields, using millisecond rise times, quasi-periodic oscillations of $18 \\text{ to } 1800\\,\\mathrm{Hz}$ in flare tails, burst energy distributions, and associated timing changes (glitches and anti-glitches). Answer: the trigger with quantitative evidence.","problem_ref":"d72d3a535bd9afa1ff93fb22190739124612a90d2893c4badf3b1faa250abce6","references":"","settled_by":"Simultaneous X-ray timing and spectroscopy of many bursts and a future Galactic giant flare, compared with predicted rise times and oscillation spectra of crust and magnetosphere models.","status_note":"2021: a giant flare from a magnetar in NGC 253 (GRB 200415A) was identified, showing such flares appear as extragalactic short gamma-ray bursts.","title":"What triggers magnetar bursts and giant flares?","topic_ref":null},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"b3fa68ec44e26e501ed37f67af6309fbf0aaa8bce58c77cf13cb0369b009337b","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"042e72e57d6c74eb8554b062f62f02fe38d19c4a467fee1670d45533b41553d7","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"i2DY6wj-Y_-8oBQYXyzetcYpNaPehokDS6Jm5SPtuUc6E-yrkFvyoteW1efXHoVY1qR6YZ0P6Cm58ljEJ7b8Ag"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"b3fa68ec44e26e501ed37f67af6309fbf0aaa8bce58c77cf13cb0369b009337b","leaf_index":2400}