PTF11agg as the First Evidence for Reverse Shock Emission from a Postmerger Millisecond Magnetar

Abstract

Based on the stiff equations of state of neutron stars (NS) and the discovery of high-mass NSs, a NS-NS merger will leave behind, with high probabilities, a rapidly rotating massive magnetar. The central magnetar will dissipate its rotational energy to the outflow by injecting Poynting flux, which will become lepton-dominated so that a long-lasting reverse shock (RS) is developed. We calculate the emission of the RS as well as the emission of forward shock (FS) and find that in most cases the RS emission is stronger than FS emission. It is found that the recently discovered transient, PTF11agg, can be neatly accounted for by the RS emission powered by a millisecond magnetar. Other alternative models have been considered and cannot explain the observed light curves well. We therefore suggest that PTF11agg be the first evidence for RS emission from a postmerger millisecond magnetar.

16 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

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• Probing the Birth of Post-merger Millisecond Magnetars by X-ray and Gamma-ray Emission
• Reverse Shock Emission and Ionization Break Out Powered by Post-merger Millisecond Magnetars
• Possible origin of AT2021any: a failed GRB from a structured jet
• The braking index of PSR B0540-69 and the associated pulsar wind nebula emission after spin-down rate transition
• Reverse Shock Emission Driven By Post-Merger Millisecond Magnetar Winds: Effects of the Magnetization Parameter
• A Pulsar Wind Nebula Model Applied to Short GRB 050724