Maximum gravitational-wave energy emissible in magnetar flares
- Creators
- Corsi, Alessandra
- Owen, Benjamin J.
Abstract
Recent searches of gravitational-wave data raise the question of what maximum gravitational-wave energies could be emitted during gamma-ray flares of highly magnetized neutron stars (magnetars). The highest energies (∼10^(49) erg) predicted so far come from a model [K. Ioka, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 327, 639 (2001), http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001MNRAS.327..639I] in which the internal magnetic field of a magnetar experiences a global reconfiguration, changing the hydromagnetic equilibrium structure of the star and tapping the gravitational potential energy without changing the magnetic potential energy. The largest energies in this model assume very special conditions, including a large change in moment of inertia (which was observed in at most one flare), a very high internal magnetic field, and a very soft equation of state. Here we show that energies of 10^(48)–10^(49) erg are possible under more generic conditions by tapping the magnetic energy, and we note that similar energies may also be available through cracking of exotic solid cores. Current observational limits on gravitational waves from magnetar fundamental modes are just reaching these energies and will beat them in the era of advanced interferometers.
Additional Information
© 2011 American Physical Society. Received 17 February 2011; published 5 May 2011. We are grateful to R. Rutledge and to many members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration for helpful discussions, especially D. I. Jones, P. Kalmus, Yu. Levin, S. Marka, M. Papa, and D. Reitze. This work was partially supported by the ''Fondazione Angelo della Riccia''—bando A. A. 2008–2009 (A. C.); by NSF Grant Nos. PHY-0555628 and PHY-0855589, and by the LIGO Visitors Program (B. J. O.). LIGO was constructed by the California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology with funding from the National Science Foundation and operates under cooperative agreement PHY-0757058. This paper has Document No. LIGOP1100011. A. C. gratefully acknowledges the Penn State Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos and the Albert Einstein Institute in Hannover for partially supporting this project during its initial and middle stages, respectively, and thanks F. Ricci for encouragement.Attached Files
Published - Corsi2011p13884Phys_Rev_D.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 23798
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20110525-130822274
- Fondazione Angelo della Riccia
- PHY-0555628
- NSF
- PHY-0855589
- NSF
- PHY-0757058
- NSF
- LIGO Visitors Program
- Penn State Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos
- Albert Einstein Institute
- Created
-
2011-06-01Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Other Numbering System Name
- LIGO Document
- Other Numbering System Identifier
- LIGO-P1100011