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arXiv · 2501.14207

Discovery of high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillation in short-duration gamma-ray bursts

Xing Yang·Hou-Jun Lü·Jared Rice·En-Wei Liang
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Abstract

Rapidly rotating newborn magnetars, which originate from binary neutron star (NS) mergers and serve as the central engines of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), may leave some imprints on their prompt gamma-ray light curves even though they are far from their radiating fireballs. A high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) would be a unique feature for the magnetar central engine, especially a hypermassive magnetar. By conducting a systematic analysis of the prompt gamma-ray light curves from 605 short GRBs observed by {\em Fermi}/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor, we have identified such QPO signals in three GRBs (e.g. GRB 120323A, GRB 181222B, and GRB 190606A). The QPOs that peaked at $1258^{+6}_{-6}$ Hz for GRB 120323A, $623^{+4}_{-4}$ Hz for GRB 181222B, and $1410^{+4}_{-5}$ Hz for GRB 190606A are all with a confidence level above 5.2 $\sigma$. The high-frequency QPO signals of those three short GRBs may be caused by a hypermassive magnetar acting as the central engine in a binary NS merger of a binary NS.

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Xing Yang, Hou-Jun Lü, Jared Rice, En-Wei Liang. 2025-01-24. Discovery of high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillation in short-duration gamma-ray bursts. https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.14207

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