Konus-Wind observations of the new soft gamma-ray repeater SGR 0501+4516
  In 2008 August, the new soft gamma-ray repeater SGR 0501+4516 was discovered
by Swift. The source was soon confirmed by several groups in space- and
ground-based multi-wavelength observations. In this letter we report the
analysis of five short bursts from the recently discovered SGR, detected with
Konus-Wind gamma-ray burst spectrometer. Properties of the time histories of
the observed events, as well as results of multi-channel spectral analysis,
both in the 20--300 keV energy range, show, that the source exhibits itself as
a typical SGR. The bursts durations are <0.75 s and their spectra above 20 keV
can be fitted by optically-thin thermal bremsstrahlung (OTTB) model with kT of
20--40 keV. The spectral evolution is observed, which resembles the SGR 1627-41
bursts, where a strong hardness-intensity correlation was noticed in the
earlier Konus-Wind observations. The peak energy fluxes of all five events are
comparable to highest those for known SGRs, so a less distant source is
implied, consistent with the determined Galactic anti-center direction.
Supposing the young supernova remnant HB9 (at the distance of 1.5 kpc) as a
natal environment of the source, the peak luminosities of the bursts are
estimated to be (2--5)x10^{40} erg s-1. The values of the total energy release,
given the same assumptions, amount to (0.6--6)x10^{39} erg. These estimations
of both parameters are typical for short SGR bursts.
