Extragalactic Magnetar Giant Flares: Population Implications, Rates, and Prospects for Gamma-Rays, Gravitational Waves, and Neutrinos
Magnetar giant flares (MGFs) are the most energetic non-catastrophic transients known to originate from stellar objects. The first discovered events were nearby. In recent years, several extragalactic events have been identified, implying an extremely high volumetric rate. We show that future instru...
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2025-01-01
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| author | Paz Beniamini Zorawar Wadiasingh Aaron Trigg Cecilia Chirenti Eric Burns George Younes Michela Negro Jonathan Granot |
| author_facet | Paz Beniamini Zorawar Wadiasingh Aaron Trigg Cecilia Chirenti Eric Burns George Younes Michela Negro Jonathan Granot |
| author_sort | Paz Beniamini |
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| description | Magnetar giant flares (MGFs) are the most energetic non-catastrophic transients known to originate from stellar objects. The first discovered events were nearby. In recent years, several extragalactic events have been identified, implying an extremely high volumetric rate. We show that future instruments with a sensitivity ≲5 × 10 ^−9 erg cm ^−2 at ∼1 MeV will be dominated by extragalactic MGFs over short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs). Clear discrimination of MGFs requires intrinsic GRB localization capability to identify host galaxies. As MGFs involve a release of a sizable fraction of the neutron star’s magnetic free energy reservoir in a single event, they provide us with invaluable tools for better understanding magnetar birth properties and the evolution of their magnetic fields. A major obstacle is to identify a (currently) small subpopulation of MGFs in a larger sample of more energetic and distant sGRBs. We develop the tools to analyze the properties of detected events and their occurrence rate relative to sGRBs. Even with the current (limited) number of events, we can constrain the initial internal magnetic field of a typical magnetar at formation to be B _0 ≈ 4 × 10 ^14 –2 × 10 ^15 G. Larger samples will constrain the distribution of birth fields. We also estimate the contribution of MGFs to the gravitational-wave (GW) stochastic background. Depending on the acceleration time of baryon-loaded ejecta involved in MGFs, their GW emission may reach beyond 10 kHz and, if so, will likely dominate over other conventional astrophysical sources in that frequency range. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-18718bccdcd64dc9b49a01876a833446 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-18718bccdcd64dc9b49a01876a8334462025-08-20T03:05:03ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01980221110.3847/1538-4357/ada947Extragalactic Magnetar Giant Flares: Population Implications, Rates, and Prospects for Gamma-Rays, Gravitational Waves, and NeutrinosPaz Beniamini0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7833-1043Zorawar Wadiasingh1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9249-0515Aaron Trigg2https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8598-728XCecilia Chirenti3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2759-1368Eric Burns4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2942-3379George Younes5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7991-028XMichela Negro6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6548-5622Jonathan Granot7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8530-8941Department of Natural Sciences, The Open University of Israel , P.O Box 808, Ra’anana 4353701, Israel ; pazb@openu.ac.il; Astrophysics Research Center of the Open university (ARCO) , The Open University of Israel, P.O Box 808, Ra’anana 4353701, Israel; Department of Physics, The George Washington University , 725 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20052, USAAstrophysics Science Division , NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, MD 20742, USA; Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology , NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, MD 20742, USA; Astroparticle Physics Laboratory , NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, 20771, MD, USA; Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology , NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, 20771, MD, USA; Center for Mathematics , Computation and Cognition, UFABC, Santo Andre, 09210-170, SP, BrazilDepartment of Physics & Astronomy, Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USAAstrophysics Science Division , NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; CRESST , Center for Space Sciences and Technology, UMBC, Baltimore, MD 210250, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USADepartment of Natural Sciences, The Open University of Israel , P.O Box 808, Ra’anana 4353701, Israel ; pazb@openu.ac.il; Astrophysics Research Center of the Open university (ARCO) , The Open University of Israel, P.O Box 808, Ra’anana 4353701, Israel; Department of Physics, The George Washington University , 725 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20052, USAMagnetar giant flares (MGFs) are the most energetic non-catastrophic transients known to originate from stellar objects. The first discovered events were nearby. In recent years, several extragalactic events have been identified, implying an extremely high volumetric rate. We show that future instruments with a sensitivity ≲5 × 10 ^−9 erg cm ^−2 at ∼1 MeV will be dominated by extragalactic MGFs over short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs). Clear discrimination of MGFs requires intrinsic GRB localization capability to identify host galaxies. As MGFs involve a release of a sizable fraction of the neutron star’s magnetic free energy reservoir in a single event, they provide us with invaluable tools for better understanding magnetar birth properties and the evolution of their magnetic fields. A major obstacle is to identify a (currently) small subpopulation of MGFs in a larger sample of more energetic and distant sGRBs. We develop the tools to analyze the properties of detected events and their occurrence rate relative to sGRBs. Even with the current (limited) number of events, we can constrain the initial internal magnetic field of a typical magnetar at formation to be B _0 ≈ 4 × 10 ^14 –2 × 10 ^15 G. Larger samples will constrain the distribution of birth fields. We also estimate the contribution of MGFs to the gravitational-wave (GW) stochastic background. Depending on the acceleration time of baryon-loaded ejecta involved in MGFs, their GW emission may reach beyond 10 kHz and, if so, will likely dominate over other conventional astrophysical sources in that frequency range.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada947MagnetarsGamma-ray burstsGravitational wave sourcesNeutrino astronomy |
| spellingShingle | Paz Beniamini Zorawar Wadiasingh Aaron Trigg Cecilia Chirenti Eric Burns George Younes Michela Negro Jonathan Granot Extragalactic Magnetar Giant Flares: Population Implications, Rates, and Prospects for Gamma-Rays, Gravitational Waves, and Neutrinos The Astrophysical Journal Magnetars Gamma-ray bursts Gravitational wave sources Neutrino astronomy |
| title | Extragalactic Magnetar Giant Flares: Population Implications, Rates, and Prospects for Gamma-Rays, Gravitational Waves, and Neutrinos |
| title_full | Extragalactic Magnetar Giant Flares: Population Implications, Rates, and Prospects for Gamma-Rays, Gravitational Waves, and Neutrinos |
| title_fullStr | Extragalactic Magnetar Giant Flares: Population Implications, Rates, and Prospects for Gamma-Rays, Gravitational Waves, and Neutrinos |
| title_full_unstemmed | Extragalactic Magnetar Giant Flares: Population Implications, Rates, and Prospects for Gamma-Rays, Gravitational Waves, and Neutrinos |
| title_short | Extragalactic Magnetar Giant Flares: Population Implications, Rates, and Prospects for Gamma-Rays, Gravitational Waves, and Neutrinos |
| title_sort | extragalactic magnetar giant flares population implications rates and prospects for gamma rays gravitational waves and neutrinos |
| topic | Magnetars Gamma-ray bursts Gravitational wave sources Neutrino astronomy |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada947 |
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