Twisting, reconnecting magnetospheres and magnetar spindown

Details Twisting, reconnecting magnetospheres and magnetar spindown Twisting, reconnecting magnetospheres and magnetar spindown

2012-01-17

arxiv.org/abs/1201.3635v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

4 pages, 2 figures. Submitted to ApJ Letters

Scientific paper

We present the first simulations of evolving, strongly twisted magnetospheres of magnetars. Slow shearing of the magnetar crust is seen to lead to a series of magnetospheric expansion and reconnection events, corresponding to X-ray flares and bursts. The simulations include rotation of the neutron star and the magnetic wind through the light cylinder. We study how the increasing twist affects the spindown rate of the star, finding that a dramatic increase in spindown occurs. Particularly spectacular are explosive events caused by sudden opening of large amounts of overtwisted magnetic flux, which may be associated with the observed giant flares. These events are accompanied by a short period of ultra-strong spindown, resulting in an abrupt increase in spin period, such as was observed in the giant flare of SGR 1900+14.

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