A Near-Infrared Survey of the N49 Region around the Soft Gamma Repeater SGR 0526-66

Abstract

We report the results of a deep near-infrared survey with the Very Large Telescope/Infrared Spectrometer and Array Camera of the environment of the supernova remnant N49 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which contains the soft gamma repeater SGR 0526-66. Two of the four confirmed SGRs are potentially associated with compact stellar clusters. We thus searched for a similar association of SGR 0526-66 and imaged a young stellar cluster at a projected distance of ∼30 pc from the SGR. This constitutes the third cluster-SGR link and lends support to scenarios in which SGR progenitors originate in young dusty clusters. If confirmed, the cluster-SGR association constrains the age and thus the initial mass of SGR progenitors.