The 2016 outburst of PSR J1119-6127: cooling & a spin-down dominated glitch

TL;DR

This paper studies the 2016 outburst of PSR J1119-6127, revealing detailed X-ray spectral evolution, a newly observed pulsed hard X-ray component, and a magnetosphere-dominated glitch recovery, advancing understanding of magnetar outbursts.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed monitoring of the outburst's spectral evolution, detects a pulsed hard X-ray component, and suggests magnetospheric processes dominate glitch recovery.

Findings

X-ray flux peaked at 300 times quiescent level and declined over months.

Blackbody temperature increased then cooled, with decreasing radius.

Detected a highly pulsed hard X-ray component fading over time.

Abstract

We report on the aftermath of a magnetar outburst from the young, high-magnetic-field radio pulsar PSR J1119-6127 that occurred on 2016 July 27. We present the results of a monitoring campaign using the Neil Gehrels Swift X-ray Telescope, NuSTAR, and XMM-Newton. After reaching a peak luminosity of ~300 times the quiescent luminosity, the pulsar's X-ray flux declined by factor of ~50 on a time scale of several months. The X-ray spectra are well described by a blackbody and a hard power-law tail. After an initial rapid decline during the first day of the outburst, we observe the blackbody temperature rising from kT = 0.9 keV to 1.05 keV during the first two weeks of the outburst, before cooling to 0.9 keV. During this time, the blackbody radius decreases monotonically by a factor of ~4 over a span of nearly 200 days. We also report a heretofore unseen highly pulsed hard X-ray emission component, which fades on a similar timescale to the soft X-ray flux, as predicted by models of relaxation of magnetospheric current twists. The previously reported spin-up glitch which accompanied this outburst was followed by a period of enhanced and erratic torque, leading to a net spin-down of $\sim3.5\times10^{-4}$ Hz, a factor of ~24 over-recovery. We suggest that this and other radiatively loud magnetar-type glitch recoveries are dominated by magnetospheric processes, in contrast to conventional radio pulsar glitch recoveries which are dominated by internal physics.