GTC optical/NIR upper limits and NICER X-ray analysis of SGR J1935+2154 for the outburst in 2022

Abstract

The Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 has undergone another outburst since 2022 October 10. We present the results of searching for an optical/NIR counterpart of SGR J1935+2154 before and during this outburst. No counterpart was detected at the magnetar's position in $r^{\prime }$ and $z^{\prime }$ bands, providing stringent upper limits of $r^{\prime }\gtrsim 28.65$ and $z^{\prime }\gtrsim 26.27$. Using archival X-ray data from NICER, we investigated the properties of the bursts and the spectral evolution of persistent emission. The burst flux $F$ showed a power-law distribution of $N\propto F^{-0.76\pm 0.10}$ for flux $\gtrsim 2.6\times 10^{-9}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, while the temperature and radius followed a lognormal distribution with $kT=1.63_{-0.50}^{+0.73}\mathrm{keV}$ and $R_{\mathrm{bb}}=4.35_{-1.35}^{+1.95}\mathrm{km}$, respectively. The persistent flux evolution experienced a quick decay and an enhancement $\sim 27$ days after the BAT trigger. Using the near-infrared (NIR) and X-ray emission, together with the GTC optical/NIR upper limits, we discussed the origin of the NIR emission from the magnetar based on the fallback disk model and magnetosphere model. We found that either model cannot be ruled out with currently available data. Further mid-infrared observations are needed to find out the mechanism for producing the NIR emission from SGR J1935+2154.

21 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ