Published September 10, 2013 | Version v1
Journal article

PTF11agg AS THE FIRST EVIDENCE FOR REVERSE SHOCK EMISSION FROM A POST-MERGER MILLISECOND MAGNETAR

  • 1. School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing (China)

Description

Based on the stiff equations of state of neutron stars (NS) and the discovery of high-mass NSs, it is highly probable that a NS-NS merger will result in a rapidly rotating massive magnetar. The central magnetar will dissipate its rotational energy to the outflow by injecting Poynting flux, which will become lepton-dominated so that a long-lasting reverse shock (RS) develops. We calculate the emission of the RS as well as the emission of forward shock (FS) and find that, in most cases, the RS emission is stronger than FS emission. It is found that the recently discovered transient, PTF11agg, can be neatly accounted for by the RS emission powered by a millisecond magnetar. Other alternative models have been considered and cannot explain the observed light curves well. We therefore suggest that PTF11agg is the first evidence for RS emission from a post-merger millisecond magnetar

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/774/2/L33

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Journal Volume
774
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
[5 p.]
ISSN
2041-8205

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
44091164
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Descriptors DEI
EMISSION; EQUATIONS OF STATE; LEPTONS; NEUTRON STARS; SHOCK WAVES; VISIBLE RADIATION
Descriptors DEC
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; ELEMENTARY PARTICLES; EQUATIONS; FERMIONS; RADIATIONS; STARS