Scale-invariance in soft gamma repeaters

The statistical properties of the soft gamma repeater SGR J1550–5418 are investigated carefully. We find that the cumulative distributions of fluence, peak flux and duration can be well fitted by a bent power law, while the cumulative distribution of waiting time follows a simple power law. In particular, the probability density functions of fluctuations of fluence, peak flux, and duration have a sharp peak and fat tails, which can be well fitted by a $q$-Gaussian function. The $q$ values keep approximately steady for different scale intervals, indicating a scale-invariant structure of soft gamma repeaters. Those results support that the origin of soft gamma repeaters is crustquakes of neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields.