Magnetar Broadband X-ray Spectra Correlated with Magnetic Fields: Suzaku Archive of SGRs and AXPs Combined with NuSTAR, Swift, and RXTE

Abstract

The 1–70 keV persistent spectra of 15 magnetars, observed with Suzaku from 2006 to 2013, were studied as a complete sample. Combined with early NuSTAR observations of four hard X-ray emitters, nine objects showed a hard power-law emission dominating at ≳ 10 keV with the 15–60 keV flux of ~1–11 x 10^(-11) erg s^(−1) cm^(−2). The hard X-ray luminosity L_h, relative to that of a soft-thermal surface radiation L_s, tends to become higher toward younger and strongly magnetized objects. Their hardness ratio, updated from a previous study and defined as ξ = L_h/L_s, is correlated with the measured spin-down rate P as ξ = 0.62 x (P/10^(-11)s s^(-1))^(0.72), corresponding to positive and negative correlations with the dipole field strength B_d (ξ ∝ B^(1.41)_d) and the characteristic age τ_c (ξ ∝ τ_c^(-0.68)), respectively. Among our sample, five transients were observed during X-ray outbursts, and the results are compared with their long-term 1–10 keV flux decays monitored with Swift/XRT and RXTE/PCA. Fading curves of three bright outbursts are approximated by an empirical formula used in the seismology, showing a ~10–40 day plateau phase. Transients show the maximum luminosities of L_s ~ 10^(35) erg s^(−1), which are comparable to those of persistently bright ones, and fade back to ≾10^(32) erg s^(−1). Spectral properties are discussed in the framework of the magnetar hypothesis.

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