Over the next year, a new era of observations of compact objects in X-ray polarization will commence. Among the key targets for the upcoming Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer mission, will be the magnetars 4U 0142+61 and 1RXS J170849.0-400910. Here we present the first detailed predictions of the expected polarization from these sources that incorporate realistic models of emission physics at the surface (gaseous or condensed), the temperature distribution on the surface, general relativity, quantum electrodynamics and scattering in the magnetosphere, and also account for the broadband spectral energy distribution of these sources from below 1 keV to nearly 100 keV. We find that either atmospheres or condensed surfaces can account for the emission at a few keV; in both cases either a small hot polar cap or scattering is required to account for the emission at 5-10 keV, and above 10 keV scattering by a hard population of electrons can account for the rising power in the hard X-rays observed in many magnetars in quiescence. Although these different scenarios result in very similar spectral energy distributions, they generate dramatically different polarization signatures from 2-10 keV, which is the range of sensitivity of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. Observations of these sources in X-ray polarization will therefore probe the emission from magnetars in an essentially new way.
Boasting supreme magnetic strengths, magnetars are among the prime candidates to generate fast radio bursts. Several theories have been proposed for the formation mechanism of magnetars, but have not yet been fully tested. As different magnetar formation theories expect distinct magnetar space velocity distributions, high-precision astrometry of Galactic magnetars can serve as a probe for the formation theories. In addition, magnetar astrometry can refine the understanding of the distribution of Galactic magnetars. This distribution can be compared against fast radio bursts (FRBs) localized in…
We present our findings on magnetar spectral line analysis in the context of upcoming high resolution, high effective area, high throughput X-ray telescopes for two cases: persistent magnetar emission and magnetar bursts. For magnetars in quiescence, we present our preliminary work on modelling for phase-resolved emission. Our results reveal the necessity of constraining line depth and width concurrently with line energy to conclusively determine hotspot emission and corresponding magnetic field geometry. We then present the results of our simulations using effective area and response of vario…
There is growing evidence that a stable magnetar could be formed from the coalescence of double neutron stars. In previous papers, we investigated the signature of formation of stable millisecond magnetars in radio and optical/ultraviolet bands by assuming that the central rapidly rotating magnetar deposits its rotational energy in the form of a relativistic leptonized wind. We found that the optical transient PTF11agg could be the first evidence for the formation of post-merger millisecond magnetars. To enhance the probability of finding more evidence for the post-merger magnetar formation, i…
The study of magnetars is of particular relevance since these objects are the only laboratories where the physics in ultra-strong magnetic fields can be directly tested. Until now, spectroscopic and timing measurements at X-ray energies in soft gamma-repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsar (AXPs) have been the main source of information about the physical properties of a magnetar and of its magnetosphere. Spectral fitting in the ~ 0.5-10 keV range allowed to validate the "twisted magnetosphere" model, probing the structure of the external field and estimating the density and velocity of th…
The central engines of some superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are generally suggested to be newly born fast rotating magnetars, which spin down mainly through magnetic dipole radiation and gravitational wave emission. We calculate the magnetar-powered SLSNe light curves (LCs) with the tilt angle evolution of newly born magnetars involved. We show that, depending on the internal toroidal magnetic fields ${\bar B}_{\rm t}$, the initial spin periods $P_{\rm i}$, and the radii $R_{\rm DU}$ of direct Urca (DU) cores of newly born magnetars, as well as the critical temperature $T_{\rm c}$ for $^3P_2$…
We investigate the high-energy neutrino emission expected from newly born magnetars surrounded by their stellar ejecta. Protons might be accelerated up to 0.1-100 EeV energies possibly by, e.g., the wave dissipation in the winds, leading to hadronic interactions in the stellar ejecta. The resulting PeV-EeV neutrinos can be detected by IceCube/KM3Net with a typical peak time scale of a few days after the birth of magnetars, making the characteristic soft-hard-soft behavior. Detections would be important as a clue to the formation mechanism of magnetars, although there are ambiguities coming fro…
Radio-loud magnetars display a wide variety of radio-pulse phenomenology seldom seen among the population of rotation-powered pulsars. Spectropolarimetry of the radio pulses from these objects has the potential to place constraints on their magnetic topology and unveil clues about the magnetar radio emission mechanism. Here we report on eight observations of the magnetar Swift J1818.0$-$1607 taken with the Parkes Ultra-Wideband Low receiver covering a wide frequency range from 0.7 to 4 GHz over a period of 5 months. The magnetar exhibits significant temporal profile evolution over this period,…
Probing millisecond magnetar formation in binary neutron star mergers through X-ray follow-up of gravitational wave alerts
Université Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学）；Université Paris Cité（巴黎西岱大学）；CEA（法国原子能和替代能源委员会）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)（马克斯·普朗克引力物理研究所（爱因斯坦研究所））；CNRS/IN2P3, IJCLab（法国国家科学研究中心/法国国家核物理与粒子物理研究所，IJCLab实验室）；Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris（巴黎天文物理研究所）；Sorbonne Université（索邦大学）；Università di Torino（都灵大学）
Extended emission episodes with intensity above the pre-burst level are observed following magnetar bursts from a number of soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs). Such extended tail emission were observed subsequent to two events detected from AXP 4U 0142+61. We investigated in detail the evolution of spectral and temporal properties during these two tail segments using RXTE/PCA observations, and report distinct variations both in the spectral and temporal behavior throughout the tails. In particular, sudden enhancement of pulsation amplitude in conjunction with bursts…
Detailed spectropolarimetric studies may hold the key to probing the explosion mechanisms and the progenitor scenarios of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). We present multi-epoch spectropolarimetry and imaging polarimetry of SN 2019ein, an SN Ia showing high expansion velocities at early phases. The spectropolarimetry sequence spans from $\sim -11$ to $+$10 days relative to peak brightness in the $B$-band. We find that the level of the continuum polarization of SN 2019ein, after subtracting estimated interstellar polarization, is in the range $0.0-0.3\%$, typical for SNe Ia. The polarization positi…
Detailed Timing, Spectral, and Polarimetric Analysis of Magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910
George Washington University（乔治华盛顿大学）；University of Maryland, Baltimore County（马里兰大学巴尔的摩分校）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（美国宇航局戈达德太空飞行中心）；Los Alamos National Laboratory（洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室）；Rice University（莱斯大学）；University of Maryland, College Park（马里兰大学帕克分校）；Louisiana State University（路易斯安那州立大学）
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) have great advantages for their huge burst energies, luminosities and high redshifts in probing the Universe. A few interesting luminosity correlations of GRBs have been used to test cosmology models. Especially, for a subsample of long GRBs with known redshifts and a plateau phase in the afterglow, a correlation between the end time of the plateau phase (in the GRB rest frame) and the corresponding X-ray luminosity has been found. In this paper, we re-analyze the subsample and found that a significantly tighter correlation exists when we add a third parameter, i.e. the…
Probing fundamental physics with ALMA2040 mm-wavelength observations of neutron stars
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, CAS（中国科学院上海天文台）；Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie（马克斯·普朗克射电天文研究所）；Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile（智利天主教 Pontificia 大学）；Universit‘a di Napoli “Federico II”（那不勒斯费德里科二世大学）；State University of New York at Oswego（纽约州立大学奥斯威戈分校）；National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization)（泰国国家天文研究所）；University of Michigan（密歇根大学）；Peking University（北京大学）；Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)（毫米波射电天文研究所）；Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg（维尔茨堡朱利叶斯-马克西米利安大学）
The persistent thermal luminosity of magnetars and their outbursts suggest the existence of some internal heat sources located in their outer crust. The compression of matter accompanying the decay of the magnetic field may trigger exothermic electron captures and, possibly, pycnonuclear fusions of light elements that may have been accreted onto the surface from the fallback of supernova debris, from a disk or from the interstellar medium. This scenario bears some resemblance to deep crustal heating in accreting neutron stars, although the matter composition and the thermodynamic conditions ar…
Temporal scatter-broadening can seriously affect our ability to find pulsars orbiting the central mass in our Galaxy. Many of these invaluable probes of geometry around the black hole are expected, but none have been found in close orbits so far, possibly as result of strong scattering. The magnetar PSR J1745-2900 discovered in 2013 at a separation of < 3 arcsec is not the optimal type of pulsar for studies of general relativity, but it can be used to investigate the scattering properties so that search strategies can be adapted accordingly. This contribution presents an observation of this ma…
Probing the maximum energy of fast radio bursts using thousands of sources from the Second CHIME/FRB Catalog
McGill University（麦吉尔大学）；Trottier Space Institute, McGill University（特罗蒂尔空间研究所，麦吉尔大学）；Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam（阿姆斯特丹大学安东·潘内科克天文学研究所）；ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy（荷兰射电天文研究所 ASTRON）；School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University（特拉维夫大学物理与天文学学院）；MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院卡弗里天体物理学与空间研究研究所）；Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院物理系）
Quiescent hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray emission from neutron stars constitute a promising frontier to explore axion-like-particles (ALPs). ALP production in the core peaks at energies of a few keV to a few hundreds of keV; subsequently, the ALPs escape and convert to photons in the magnetosphere. The emissivity goes as $\sim T^6$ while the conversion probability is enhanced for large magnetic fields, making magnetars, with their high core temperatures and strong magnetic fields, ideal targets for probing ALPs. We compute the energy spectrum of photons resulting from conversion of ALPs in the …
Here we present stringent low-frequency 185MHz limits on coherent radio emission associated with a short gamma-ray burst (SGRB). Our observations of the short GRB 180805A were taken with the upgraded Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) rapid-response system, which triggered within 20s of receiving the transient alert from Swift, corresponding to 83.7s post-burst. The SGRB was observed for 30m, resulting in a 3sigma persistent flux density upper-limit of 40.2mJy/beam. Transient searches were conducted at the Swift position of this GRB on 0.5s, 5s, 30s, and 2m timescales, resulting in 3sigma limits …
Vacuum birefringence and the polarized X-ray emission from a radio magnetar
George Washington University（乔治华盛顿大学）；Rice University（莱斯大学）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（美国宇航局戈达德太空飞行中心）；University of Maryland Baltimore County（马里兰大学巴尔的摩县分校）；Swinburne University of Technology（斯威本科技大学）；Louisiana State University（路易斯安那州立大学）；South African Radio Astronomy Observatory（南非射电天文观测台）
Probing the Dispersion and Rotation Measure Contributions from Supernova Remnants in Fast Radio Burst Source Environments with 1D SNR Simulation
Theoretical Astrophysics, Department of Earth and Space Science, The University of Osaka（大阪大学地球惑星科学部理论天体物理学）；Department of Astronomy, Kyoto University（京都大学天文学系）；Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo（东京大学宇宙物质前沿研究机构（WPI））；Theoretical Joint Research, Forefront Research Center, Graduate School of Science, The University of Osaka（大阪大学大学院理学研究科前沿研究中心理论联合研究）；Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo（东京大学UTIAS卡弗里宇宙物理与数学研究所（WPI））；Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas（内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校物理与天文系）；Nevada Center for Astrophysics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas（内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校内华达天体物理学中心）；The Hong Kong Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, The University of Hong Kong（香港大学香港天体物理学研究所）
By reaching through shrouding blastwaves, efficiently discovering off-axis events, and probing the central engine at work, gravitational wave (GW) observations will soon revolutionize the study of gamma-ray bursts. Already, analyses of GW data targeting gamma-ray bursts have helped constrain the central engines of selected events. Advanced GW detectors with significantly improved sensitivities are under construction. After outlining the GW emission mechanisms from gamma-ray burst progenitors (binary coalescences, stellar core collapses, magnetars, and others) that may be detectable with advanc…
This paper describes the Polarization Spectroscopic Telescope Array (PolSTAR), a mission proposed to NASA's 2014 Small Explorer (SMEX) announcement of opportunity. PolSTAR measures the linear polarization of 3-50 keV (requirement; goal: 2.5-70 keV) X-rays probing the behavior of matter, radiation and the very fabric of spacetime under the extreme conditions close to the event horizons of black holes, as well as in and around magnetars and neutron stars. The PolSTAR design is based on the technology developed for the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission launched in June 2012. …
