Spindown of magnetars: Quantum Vacuum Friction?

TL;DR

This paper proposes quantum vacuum friction as a significant factor in magnetar spindown, especially in low magnetic field cases, challenging the traditional magnetic dipole radiation model.

Contribution

It introduces quantum vacuum friction as a new mechanism influencing magnetar spindown, providing a testable alternative to the pure magnetodipole model.

Findings

QVF can dominate pulsar energy loss under certain conditions.

Magnetar spindown behavior differs in the combined QVF and magnetodipole scenario.

Predictions can be tested with low magnetic field magnetar observations.

Abstract

Magnetars are proposed to be peculiar neutron stars which could power their X-ray radiation by super-strong magnetic fields as high as $\gtrsim 10^{14}$ G. However, no direct evidence for such strong fields is obtained till now, and the recent discovery of low magnetic field magnetars even indicates that some more efficient radiation mechanism than magnetic dipole radiation should be included. In this paper, quantum vacuum friction (QVF) is suggested to be a direct consequence of super-strong {\em surface} fields, therefore the magnetar model could then be tested further through the QVF braking. Pulsars' high surface magnetic field interacting with the quantum vacuum result in a significantly high spindown rate ($\dot{P}$). It is found that QVF dominates the energy loss of pulsars when pulsar's rotation period and its first derivative satisfy the relationship $P^3\cdot \dot{P}>0.63\times10^{-16}\xi^{-4}$s$^2$, where $\xi$ is the ratio of the surface magnetic field over diploe magnetic field. In the "QVF $+$ magnetodipole" joint braking scenario, the spindown behavior of magnetars should be quite different from that in the pure magnetodipole model. We are expecting these results could be tested by magnetar candidates, especially the low magnetic field ones, in the future.