Speaker
Description
Highly magnetized neutron stars are a source of extreme transients observed in different bands, like the fast radio burst (FRB) and associated hard X-ray burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154. The origin of such outbursts, hard X-rays on the one hand and millisecond duration FRBs on the other hand, is still unknown. We present a global model for various kinds of such magnetar outbursting activities. Crustal surface motions can twist the inner magnetar magnetosphere by shifting the frozen-in footpoints of magnetic field lines. We discuss criteria for various instabilities of 3D twisted flux bundles in the force-free dipolar magnetospheres and compare their energetic properties to observations of magnetar X-ray flares. We then connect such activities to recently developed FRB generation mechanisms in the outer magnetosphere of a magnetar. In a reconnection-mediated model, a magnetic pulse induced by a magnetar flare collides with the current sheet of the magnetar wind, compresses, and fragments it into a self-similar chain of magnetic islands. Time-dependent plasma currents created during their collisions produce relatively narrow-band GHz emission with luminosities sufficient to explain bright extragalactic FRBs. Alternatively, a so far unexplored shock-mediated FRB mechanism can convert magnetic perturbations of the magnetar wind to radio waves.
