Abstract
The high-energy sources known as anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) and soft
gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) are well explained as magnetars: isolated neutron
stars powered by their own magnetic energy. After explaining why it is
generally believed that the traditional energy sources at work in other neutron
stars (accretion, rotation, residual heat) cannot power the emission of
AXPs/SGRs, I review the observational properties of the twenty AXPs/SGRs
currently known and describe the main features of the magnetar model. In the
last part of this review I discuss the recent discovery of magnetars with low
external dipole field and some of the relations between AXPs/SGRs and other
classes of isolated neutron stars.
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