Tidally-induced Magnetar Super Flare at the Eve of Coalescence with Its Compact Companion

TL;DR

This paper proposes that tidal forces in neutron star mergers involving magnetars can trigger catastrophic crust destruction, releasing magnetic energy as super flares, potentially explaining observed gamma-ray burst precursors.

Contribution

It introduces a new mechanism linking tidal deformation in inspiraling neutron stars to super flares, providing a novel explanation for certain gamma-ray burst precursors.

Findings

Tidal forces can cause crust failure seconds before coalescence.

Magnetic energy release can produce super flares much larger than typical magnetar flares.

Potential observational signatures in upcoming gravitational wave detections.

Abstract

In the late inspiral phase of a double neutron star (NS) or NS-black hole system in which one NS is a magnetar, the tidal force on the magnetar arisen from its companion will increase dramatically as the binary approaches. The tidal-induced deformation may surpass the maximum that the magnetar's crust can sustain just seconds or subseconds before the coalescence. A catastrophic global crust destruction may thus occur, and the magnetic energy stored in the magnetar's interior will have the opportunity to be released, which would be observed as a superflare with energy 100s of times larger than giant flares of magnetars. Such a mechanism can naturally explain the recently observed precursor of GRB 211211A, including its quasiperiodic oscillation. We predict that in the coming gravitational wave O4/O5 period, there could be a fraction of detected double NS mergers associated with such super flares. If observed, copious information on the structure and magnetic field in an NS interior can be obtained, which is hard to study elsewhere.