SUPPLEMENT TO “TORSIONAL OSCILLATIONS OF A MAGNETAR WITH A TANGLED MAGNETIC FIELD” (2016, ApJL, 823, L1)*

Abstract

ABSTRACT We introduce a mean-field formalism with which to study the oscillations of a neutron star or other stellar object with a dipolar magnetic field plus a topologically distinct isotropic magnetic tangle that stabilizes the field configuration. In terms of the ratio of the energy density of the tangled field to that in the dipolar component b t 2, we obtain separable equations for the eigenfunctions and eigenfrequencies for a star of uniform density. We show that finite b t 2 breaks the Alfvén continuum that is supported by the dipolar component of the field into discrete normal modes, and we quantify the splitting. Assuming the estimated dipole fields of 7 × 10 14 G in SGR 1900+14 and 2 × 10 15 G in SGR 1806–20, and tuning b t 2 to match the lowest-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations observed to accompany flares in these objects, we infer b t 2 = 13.3 and 0.17, respectively. The predicted spectrum is about three times denser than that observed in SGR 1900+14, and much denser in SGR 1806–20. If the dipole field of SGR 1806–20 has been overestimated, the spectrum of normal modes will be less dense. We show that for b t 2 ≫ 1 , as stability considerations suggest, the crust is nearly dynamically irrelevant. Moreover, density stratification generally shifts the eigenfrequencies up by about 20%, a change that can be mostly subsumed in a uniform density model with a slightly different choice of stellar radius or mass.