Superflares from magnetars revealing the GRB central engine

2010/01/31 by Dimitrios Giannios
Physics and Astronomy · #Afterglow #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Flare #Galaxy #Gamma-ray burst #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Magnetar #Millisecond #Neutron star #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph.HE

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1745-3933.2010.00813.x

4 pages, MNRAS, 403, L51

openalex publication_date 2010/02/01 · arxiv created 2010/08/16 · arxiv updated 2015/05/14 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Abstract Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) may be powered by the rotational energy of a millisecond magnetar. I argue that the GRB-driving magnetars lie at the high end of the distribution of magnetic field strengths of magnetars. The field of GRB magnetars decays on time-scale of hundreds of years and can power soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR)-like flares up to ∼100 times more powerful than the 2004 event of SGR 1806–20. A few of these flares per year may have been observed by the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) and classified as short-duration GRBs. Association of one of these superflares with a nearby dL≲ 250 Mpc galaxy and the discovery of a, coincident in space, 100-yr-old GRB afterglow (observed in the radio) will be the characteristic signature of the magnetar model for GRBs.

Citations

• The Angular Size and Proper Motion of the Afterglow of GRB 030329
• The Giant Flare of 2004 December 27 from SGR 1806−20
• How Common Are Magnetars? The Consequences of Magnetic Field Decay
• An origin in the local Universe for some short γ-ray bursts
• Accurate Calorimetry of GRB 030329
• Short gamma-ray bursts from SGR giant flares and neutron star mergers: two populations are better than one