On the Rate of Crustal Failures in Young Magnetars

The activity of magnetars is powered by their intense and dynamic magnetic fields and has been proposed as the trigger to extragalactic fast radio bursts. Here we estimate the frequency of crustal failures in young magnetars, by computing the magnetic stresses in detailed magnetothermal simulations including Hall drift and ohmic dissipation. The initial internal topology at birth is poorly known but is likely to be much more complex than a dipole. Thus, we explore a wide range of initial configurations, finding that the expected rate of crustal failures varies by orders of magnitude depending on the initial magnetic configuration. Our results show that this rate scales with the crustal magnetic energy, rather than with- the often used -surface value of the dipolar component related to the spin-down torque. Our results are useful inputs in modeling the outburst rate of young Galactic magnetars, and their relation with the fast radio bursts in our and other galaxies.

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Meeting ID: 850 4491 0172 
Passcode: 996691