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Interpreting the X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray bursts with radiative losses and millisecond magnetars.
- Source :
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . Dec2020, Vol. 499 Issue 4, p5986-5992. 7p. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- The spin-down energy of millisecond magnetars has been invoked to explain X-ray afterglow observations of a significant fraction of short and long gamma-ray bursts. Here, we extend models previously introduced in the literature, incorporating radiative losses with the spin-down of a magnetar central engine through an arbitrary braking index. Combining this with a model for the tail of the prompt emission, we show that our model can better explain the data than millisecond-magnetar models without radiative losses or those that invoke spin-down solely through vacuum dipole radiation. We find that our model predicts a subset of X-ray flares seen in some gamma-ray bursts. We can further explain the diversity of X-ray plateaus by altering the radiative efficiency and measure the braking index of newly born millisecond magnetars. We measure the braking index of GRB061121 as |$n=4.85^{+0.11}_{-0.15}$| suggesting the millisecond-magnetar born in this gamma-ray burst spins down predominantly through gravitational-wave emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *GAMMA ray bursts
*MAGNETARS
*X-rays
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00358711
- Volume :
- 499
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 147269214
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa3090