The influence of magnetic field geometry on magnetars X-ray spectra

Nowadays, the analysis of the X-ray spectra of magnetically powered neutron stars or magnetars is one of the most valuable tools to gain insight into the physical processes occurring in their interiors and magnetospheres. In particular, the magnetospheric plasma leaves a strong imprint on the observed X-ray spectrum by means of Compton up-scattering of the thermal radiation coming from the star surface. Motivated by the increased quality of the observational data, much theoretical work has been devoted to develop Monte Carlo (MC) codes that incorporate the effects of resonant Compton scattering (RCS) in the modeling of radiative transfer of photons through the magnetosphere. The two key ingredients in this simulations are the kinetic plasma properties and the magnetic field (MF) configuration. The MF geometry is expected to be complex, but up to now only mathematically simple solutions (self-similar solutions) have been employed. In this work, we discuss the effects of new, more realistic, MF geometries on synthetic spectra. We use new force-free solutions [14] in a previously developed MC code [9] to assess the influence of MF geometry on the emerging spectra. Our main result is that the shape of the final spectrum is mostly sensitive to uncertain parameters of the magnetospheric plasma, but the MF geometry plays an important role on the angle-dependence of the spectra.

Central compact objects and the hidden magnetic field scenario

Central compact objects (CCOs) are X-ray sources lying close to the centre of supernova remnants, with inferred values of the surface magnetic fields significantly lower (≲1011 G) than those of standard pulsars. In this paper, we revise the hidden magnetic field scenario, presenting the first 2D simulations of the submergence and re-emergence of the magnetic field in the crust of a neutron star. A post-supernova accretion stage of about 10−4–10−3 M⊙ over a vast region of the surface is required to bury the magnetic field into the inner crust. When accretion stops, the field re-emerges on a typical time-scale of 1–100 kyr, depending on the submergence conditions. After this stage, the surface magnetic field is restored close to its birth values. A possible observable consequence of the hidden magnetic field is the anisotropy of the surface temperature distribution, in agreement with observations of several of these sources. We conclude that the hidden magnetic field model is viable as an alternative to the antimagnetar scenario, and it could provide the missing link between CCOs and the other classes of isolated neutron stars.