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High-energy emission in short GRBs and the role of magnetarcentral engines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2013

A. Rowlinson
Affiliation:
Astronomical Institute “Anton Pannekoek”, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 94249, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
P.T. O’Brien
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
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Abstract

A significant number of long Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) detected by the SwiftSatellite have a plateau phase signifying ongoing energy injection. Using BAT andXRT observations, we find that many short GRBs show similar behavior which challenges thetypical short GRB progenitor model. We suggest the remnant of neutron star - neutron starmergers may not collapse immediately to a black hole (or even collapse at all) forminginstead a magnetar. This model predicts that there would be a plateau phase in the X-raylightcurve followed by a shallow decay phase, if it is a stable magnetar, or a steep decayif the magnetar collapses to a black hole within a few hundred seconds. By fitting thismodel to all short GRB BAT-XRT lightcurves, we show that a magnetar could power theobserved energy injection. This model can be tested using the next generationgravitational wave observatories.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences 2013

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