A Variable X-ray Source Close to the Magnetar SGR 1935+2154

Abstract: The recent discovery of a millisecond radio burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154 has initiated an intense discussion about the connection between magnetars and fast radio bursts (FRBs). Although some properties of the radio burst from SGR 1935+2154 are not the same as cosmological FRBs, there are theoretical models which propose a connection between magnetars and FRBs (see review by Margalit et al. 2020). In particular, the role of a magnetar wind nebula is included in some models, and therefore it is worthwhile to investigate the X-ray environment of SGR 1935+2154 in more detail. Here, we report on the discovery of an X-ray transient feature near SGR 1935+2154 using archival Chandra data and discuss its possible origin.