The initial evolution of millisecond magnetars: an analytical solution

TL;DR

This paper provides an analytical model for the early evolution of millisecond magnetars, explaining their magnetic and rotational dynamics, and applies it to fit observed GRB afterglow data to infer magnetar properties.

Contribution

It introduces an approximate analytical solution for magnetar evolution equations, including magnetic field decay, and demonstrates its application to real GRB data for the first time.

Findings

Inclination angle aligns rapidly within the first day.

Magnetic dipole field may decay by a factor of a few.

Braking index varies significantly during early evolution.

Abstract

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}a\c{s}maz Mu\c{s} 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.