Tidally-induced magnetar super flare at the eve of coalescence with its compact companion

Abstract

In the late inspiral phase of a double neutron star (NS) or NS-back hole system in which one NS is a magnetar, the tidal force on the magnetar arisen from its companion will increase dramatically as the binary approaches. The tidal-induced deformation may surpass the maximum that the magnetar's crust can sustain just seconds or sub-seconds before the coalescence. A catastrophic global crust destruction may thus occur, and the magnetic energy stored in the magnetar's interior will have the opportunity to be released which would be observed as a super flare with energy hundreds times larger than giant flares of magnetars. Such mechanism can naturally explain the recently observed precursor of GRB211211A, including its quasi-periodic-oscillation. We predict that in the coming gravitational wave O4/O5 period, there could be a fraction of detected double NS mergers associated with such super flares. If observed, copious information on the structure and magnetic field in NS interior can be obtained, which is hard to study elsewhere.