Superflares from magnetars revealing the GRB central engine

TL;DR

This paper proposes that some long-duration gamma-ray bursts are powered by highly magnetized magnetars whose superflares can mimic short GRBs, with observable signatures including nearby galaxy associations and coincident afterglows.

Contribution

It introduces the idea that GRB magnetars are at the high end of magnetic field strength, with decay timescales and flare energies capable of explaining certain short GRBs and their signatures.

Findings

Magnetar magnetic fields decay over hundreds of years.

Superflares can be up to 100 times more powerful than known SGR events.

Some short GRBs may be superflares from nearby magnetars.

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 timescale of hundreds of years and can power 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 {\it BATSE} and classified as short-duration GRBs. Association of one of these superflares with a nearby d_L\simless 250 Mpc galaxy and the discovery of a, coincident in space, 100-year-old GRB afterglow (observed in the radio) will be the characteristic signature of the magnetar model for GRBs.