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Fallback accretion on to a newborn magnetar: Short GRBs with extended emission

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

There is a subset of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) that exhibit a rebrightening in their highenergy light curves known as extended emission. These bursts have the potential to discern between various models proposed to describe SGRBs as any model needs to account for extended emission. In this paper, we combine fallback accretion into the magnetar propeller model and investigate the morphological changes fallback accretion has on model light curves and fit to the afterglows of 15 SGRBs exhibiting extended emission from the Swift archive. We have parametrized the fallback in terms of existing parameters within the propeller model and solved for the disc mass and angular frequency of the magnetar over time. We then apply a Markov chain Monte Carlo routine to produce fits to the data. We present fits to our extended emission SGRB sample that are morphologically and energetically consistent with the data provided by Swift Burst Alert Telescope and X-ray Telescope. The parameters derived from these fits are consistent with predictions formagnetar properties and fallback accretionmodels. Fallback accretion provides a noticeable improvement to the fits of the light curves of SGRBs with extended emission when compared to previous work and could play an important role in explaining features such as variability, flares and long dipole plateaux.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4925-4940
Number of pages16
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume470
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Authors.

Keywords

  • Accretion
  • Accretion discs
  • Gamma-ray burst: general
  • Stars: magnetars

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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