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NEUTRON STARS (NSS) REPRESENT IDEAL LABORATORIES TO STUDY MATTER UNDER EXTREME DENSITY GRAVITY AND MAGNETIC FIELD CONDITIONS. MAGNETARS CONSTITUTE THE MOST EXTREME MANIFESTATIONS OF NSS POSSESSING THE STRONGEST DIPOLE MAGNETIC FIELDS EVER MEASURED. THE DECAY OF THESE LARGE B-FIELDS POWERS THE MAGNETARS HIGH ENERGY EMISSION. MAGNETARS ARE THE MOST VARIABLE SOURCES OF THE CLASS OF NSS WITH UNIQUE RADIATIVE X-RAY OUTBURSTS WHERE THEIR X-RAY FLUX INCREASES BY FACTORS OF A FEW UP TO 100 TIMES THE QUIESCENT LEVEL. THESE OUTBURSTS LAST ANYWHERE FROM MONTHS TO YEARS DURING WHICH THE X-RAY SPECTRAL PROPERTIES OF THE SOURCE DECAY BACK TO THEIR PRE-OUTBURST LEVELS. STUDY OF THESE RADIATIVE OUTBURSTS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF MAGNETAR MAGNETOSPHERES MAGNETAR INTERIORS NS SURFACE CRUST PROPERTIES AND RADIATIVE EMISSION IN THE PRESENCE OF SUPER-CRITICAL FIELDS. WE PROPOSE A COMPLETE HOMOGENEOUS ANALYSIS OF THE 17 MAGNETAR OUTBURSTS THAT OCCURRED IN THE LAST 17 YEARS IN THE ERA OF HIGH SENSITIVITY HIGH RESOLUTION INSTRUMENTS XMM-NEWTON CHANDRA SWIFT AND SUZAKU. SUCH A SAMPLE ANALYSIS HAS NOT BEEN DONE YET AND THE INCREASING NUMBER OF DISCOVERED MAGNETAR OUTBURSTS (THROUGH MORE BURSTS DETECTION E.G. WITH FERMI AND SWIFT) IS STRONGLY CALLING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF THEIR OUTBURST DECAY AS A CLASS. THE DECAY SHAPE TIME-SCALES ENERGETICS AND SPECTRAL EVOLUTION OF THE DIFFERENT SPECTRAL COMPONENTS INVOLVED IN THESE MAGNETAR OUTBURSTS SHOULD DEPEND ON THE INTRINSIC PROPERTIES OF THE SOURCE E.G. SPIN PERIOD MAGNETIC FIELD STRENGTH AGE QUIESCENT FLUX THE EXACT DETAILS OF THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM BEHIND THE OUTBURST (E.G. INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL HEATING) AND THE MAGNITUDE OF THE BURSTING EVENTS I.E. INTEGRATED ENERGY RELEASE IN THE BURSTS LEADING TO THE OUTBURST ONSET. GIVEN THAT THESE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES EVOLVE WITH MAGNETAR AGE STUDYING MAGNETAR OUTBURSTS AS A CLASS WILL ALLOW US TO UNDERSTAND THEIR EVOLUTION IN CONCORDANCE TO THAT OF MAGNETARS AND PROBE THE CHANGE IN OUTBURSTS PROPERTIES FOR DIFFERENT PHYSICALPARAMETER REGIMES. SUCH ANALYSIS WILL ALSO SHED LIGHT ON THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN THE MAGNETOSPHERE AND THE INTERIOR OF MAGNETARS LEADING TO THE EXACT TRIGGER MECHANISM FOR THESE OUTBURSTS.

$160,418FY2017National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

George Washington University (The)

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