Precessing magnetars as central engines in short gamma-ray bursts

TL;DR

This paper investigates precessing magnetars as central engines in short gamma-ray bursts, analyzing X-ray light curves to identify precession signatures and infer internal magnetic field configurations.

Contribution

It provides the first systematic analysis of precession in magnetars associated with short gamma-ray bursts using observational data.

Findings

64% of magnetars show evidence of precession

Precession periods relate to star's ellipticity and internal stresses

Magnetic energy ratios are bimodal, indicating different magnetic field configurations

Abstract

Short gamma-ray bursts that are followed by long-duration X-ray plateaus may be powered by the birth, and hydrodynamic evolution, of magnetars from compact binary coalescence events. If the rotation and magnetic axes of the system are not orthogonal to each other, the star will undergo free precession, leading to fluctuations in the luminosity of the source. In some cases, precession-induced modulations in the spin-down power may be discernible in the X-ray flux of the plateau. In this work, 25 X-ray light curves associated with bursts exhibiting a plateau are fitted to luminosity profiles appropriate for precessing, oblique rotators. Based on the Akaike Information Criterion, 16 (64 per cent) of the magnetars within the sample display either moderate or strong evidence for precession. Additionally, since the precession period of the star is directly tied to its quadrupolar ellipticity, the fits allow for an independent measure of the extent to which the star is deformed by internal stresses. Assuming these deformations arise due to a mixed poloidal-toroidal magnetic field, we find that the distribution of magnetic-energy ratios is bimodal, with data points clustering around energetically equal and toroidally dominated partitions. Implications of this result for gravitational-wave emission and dynamo activity in newborn magnetars are discussed.