A radiatively-quiet glitch and anti-glitch in the magnetar 1E 2259+586

TL;DR

This study analyzes the timing and spectral behavior of the magnetar 1E 2259+586 over several years, revealing that both glitches and anti-glitches can occur silently without radiative signatures, implying interior origins.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed long-term observational evidence that both spin-up glitches and anti-glitches in magnetars can occur without radiative changes, suggesting interior mechanisms.

Findings

Detection of a large spin-up glitch 5 years after an anti-glitch.

No radiative or spectral changes associated with the glitches or anti-glitches.

Similar occurrence rates for spin-up and spin-down glitches in the magnetar.

Abstract

We report on the timing and spectral properties of the soft X-ray emission from the magnetar 1E 2259+586 from January 2013, $\sim 8$ months after the detection of an anti-glitch, until September 2019, using the Neil Gehrels Swift and NICER observatories. During this time span, we detect two timing discontinuities. The first, occurring around 5 years after the April 2012 anti-glitch, is a relatively large spin-up glitch with a fractional amplitude $\Delta\nu/\nu=1.24(2)\times10^{-6}$. We find no evidence for flux enhancement or change in the spectral or pulse profile shape around the time of this glitch. This is consistent with the picture that a significant number of magnetar spin-up glitches are radiatively-quiet. Approximately 1.5 years later in April 2019, 1E 2259+586 exhibited an anti-glitch with spin-down of a fractional amplitude $\Delta\nu/\nu=-5.8(1)\times10^{-7}$; similar to the fractional change detected in 2012. We do not, however, detect any change to the pulse-profile shape or increase in the rms pulsed flux of the source, nor do we see any possible bursts from its direction around the time of the anti-glitch; all of which occurred during the 2012 event. Hence, similar to spin-up glitches, anti-glitches can occur silently. This may suggest that these phenomena originate in the neutron star interior, and that their locale and triggering mechanism do not necessarily have to be connected to the magnetosphere. Lastly, our observations suggest that the occurrence rate of spin-up and spin-down glitches is about the same in 1E 2259+586, with the former having a larger net fractional change.