The initial evolution of millisecond magnetars: an analytical solution

Millisecond magnetars are often invoked as the central engine of some gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), specifically the ones showing a plateau phase. We argue that an apparent plateau phase may not be realized if the magnetic field of the nascent magnetar is in a transient rapid decay stage. Some GRBs that...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2020-05
Main Authors: Sercan Çıkıntoğlu, Mus, Sinem Sasmaz, K Yavuz Ekşi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angular velocity
Bayesian analysis
Braking
Decay
Dipole moments
Evolution
Exact solutions
Gamma ray bursts
Gamma rays
Inclination angle
Light curve
Magnetars
Magnetic dipoles
Magnetic fields
Magnetism
Neutron stars
Rotating plasmas
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Millisecond magnetars are often invoked as the central engine of some gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), specifically the ones showing a plateau phase. We argue that an apparent plateau phase may not be realized if the magnetic field of the nascent magnetar is in a transient rapid decay stage. Some GRBs that lack a clear plateau phase may also be hosting millisecond magnetars. We present an approximate analytical solution of the coupled set of equations describing the evolution of the angular velocity and the inclination angle between rotation and magnetic axis of a neutron star in the presence of a co-rotating plasma. We also show how the solution can be generalized to the case of evolving magnetic fields. We determine the evolution of the spin period, inclination angle, magnetic dipole moment and braking index of six putative magnetars associated with GRB 091018, GRB 070318, GRB 080430, GRB 090618, GRB 110715A, GRB 140206A through fitting, via Bayesian analysis, the X-ray afterglow light curves by using our recent model [\c{S}aşmaz Muş et al. 2019]. We find that within the first day following the formation of the millisecond magnetar, the inclination angle aligns rapidly, the magnetic dipole field may decay by a few times and the braking index varies by an order of magnitude.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1910.00554