{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"4ec7ae22cfc2fec74eda7cf803cd04daddbac0edb8e3c7cc498336fd1ae5074d","created":"2026-10-03T07:17:55Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["5475cf5dc5b1a72283d26dc95dc6e00d7ea4e00096a7c6492e409a1816eeb011"],"salt":"76a080ae83b422f696b8154f5cf557e8ee7d0b7d5e94bcf028c65dc7d5125b1d","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":"1","parents":[],"plain":"Magnetars sometimes release up to about $1e46\\,\\mathrm{erg}$ 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 $E \\sim 2e46\\,\\mathrm{erg}$, and the extragalactic GRB 200415A) and short bursts ($1e37 \\text{ to } 1e41\\,\\mathrm{erg}$) 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":null,"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":"cf74b0d6cbf0f14a95f95d071c68e45a587fcae015fdd13da4686d4a258fa561"},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"d72d3a535bd9afa1ff93fb22190739124612a90d2893c4badf3b1faa250abce6","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"f6c58e2e9ff36f014d1edcbcb76310d854800bbb7bc58b956e97954ce3b3348b","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"isOEg4KB-dLTJ6zOXSvhY8njFbNUIeisBXSV4fHhnoVY_LBb1xEC9JeRbPLsq0_U-olMiXI-qlRseT7mW0rxAg"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"d72d3a535bd9afa1ff93fb22190739124612a90d2893c4badf3b1faa250abce6","leaf_index":585}