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Zorawar Wadiasingh

Publications and source records attributed to Zorawar Wadiasingh.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

"Spider" Millisecond Pulsar Binaries as Potential TeV Emitters

Pulsar winds interacting with sources of external pressure are well-established as efficient and prolific TeV accelerators in our Galaxy. Yet, enabled by observations from Fermi-LAT, a growing class of non-accreting pulsars in binaries has emerged and these are likely to become apparent as TeV emitters in the CTA era. This class consists of the black widows and redbacks, binaries in which a millisecond pulsar interacts with its low-mass companion. In such systems, an intrabinary shock can form as a site of particle acceleration and associated nonthermal emission. We motivate why these sources are particularly interesting for understanding pulsar winds. We also describe our new multizone code which models the X-ray and gamma-ray synchrotron and inverse Compton spectral components for select spider binaries, including diffusion, convection, and radiative energy losses in an axially symmetric, steady-state approach. This new multizone code simultaneously yields energy-dependent light curves and orbital-phase-resolved spectra. It also better constrains the multiplicity of electron/positron pairs that have been accelerated up to TeV energies and are necessary to power orbitally-modulated synchrotron emission components between the X-rays and MeV/GeV bands potentially observed in some systems. This affords a more robust prediction of the expected high-energy and VHE gamma-ray flux. Nearby MSPs with hot or flaring companions may be promising targets for CTA, and it is possible that spider binaries could contribute to the observed AMS-02 energetic positron excess.

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Constraining the Neutron Star Mass--Radius Relation and Dense Matter Equation of State with NICER. III. Model Description and Verification of Parameter Estimation Codes

We describe the X-ray pulse profile models we use, and how we use them, to analyze Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) observations of rotation-powered millisecond pulsars to obtain information about the mass-radius relation of neutron stars and the equation of state of the dense matter in their cores. Here we detail our modeling of the observed profile of PSR J0030+0451 that we analyzed in Miller et al. (2019) and Riley et al. (2019) and describe a cross-verification of computations of the pulse profiles of a star with R/M 3, in case stars this compact need to be considered in future analyses. We also present our early cross-verification efforts of the parameter estimation procedures used by Miller et al. (2019) and Riley et al. (2019) by analyzing two distinct synthetic data sets. Both codes yielded credible regions in the mass-radius plane that are statistically consistent with one another and both gave posterior distributions for model parameter values consistent with the values that were used to generate the data. We also summarize the additional tests of the parameter estimation procedure of Miller et al. (2019) that used synthetic pulse profiles and the NICER pulse profile of PSR J0030+0451. We then illustrate how the precision of mass and radius estimates depends on the pulsar's spin rate and the size of its hot spot by analyzing four different synthetic pulse profiles. Finally, we assess possible sources of systematic error in these estimates made using this technique, some of which may warrant further investigation.

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Enhanced X-ray Emission Coinciding with Giant Radio Pulses from the Crab Pulsar

Giant radio pulses (GRPs) are sporadic bursts emitted by some pulsars, lasting a few microseconds. GRPs are hundreds to thousands of times brighter than regular pulses from these sources. The only GRP-associated emission outside radio wavelengths is from the Crab Pulsar, where optical emission is enhanced by a few percent during GRPs. We observed the Crab Pulsar simultaneously at X-ray and radio wavelengths, finding enhancement of the X-ray emission by $3.8\pm0.7\%$ (a 5.4$σ$ detection) coinciding with GRPs. This implies that the total emitted energy from GRPs is tens to hundreds of times higher than previously known. We discuss the implications for the pulsar emission mechanism and extragalactic fast radio bursts.

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Long-term coherent timing of the accreting millisecond pulsar IGR J17062-6143

We report on a coherent timing analysis of the 163 Hz accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar IGR J17062-6143. Using data collected with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer and XMM-Newton, we investigated the pulsar evolution over a timespan of four years. We obtained a unique phase-coherent timing solution for the stellar spin, finding the source to be spinning up at a rate of $(3.77\pm0.09)\times 10^{-15}$ Hz/s. We further find that the $0.4-6$ keV pulse fraction varies gradually between 0.5% and 2.5% following a sinusoidal oscillation with a $1210\pm40$ day period. Finally, we supplemented this analysis with an archival Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observation, and obtained a phase coherent model for the binary orbit spanning 12 years, yielding an orbital period derivative measurement of $(8.4\pm2.0) \times 10^{-12}$ s/s. This large orbital period derivative is inconsistent with a binary evolution that is dominated by gravitational wave emission, and is suggestive of highly non-conservative mass transfer in the binary system.

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NICER Discovery of Millisecond X-ray Pulsations and an Ultracompact Orbit in IGR J17494-3030

We report the detection of 376.05 Hz (2.66 ms) coherent X-ray pulsations in NICER observations of a transient outburst of the low-mass X-ray binary IGR J17494-3030 in 2020 October/November. The system is an accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar in a 75 minute ultracompact binary. The mass donor is most likely a $\simeq 0.02 M_\odot$ finite-entropy white dwarf composed of He or C/O. The fractional rms pulsed amplitude is 7.4%, and the soft (1-3 keV) X-ray pulse profile contains a significant second harmonic. The pulsed amplitude and pulse phase lag (relative to our mean timing model) are energy-dependent, each having a local maximum at 4 keV and 1.5 keV, respectively. We also recovered the X-ray pulsations in archival 2012 XMM-Newton observations, allowing us to measure a long-term pulsar spin-down rate of $\dotν= -2.1(7)\times10^{-14}$ Hz/s and to infer a pulsar surface dipole magnetic field strength of $\simeq 10^9$ G. We show that the mass transfer in the binary is likely non-conservative, and we discuss various scenarios for mass loss from the system.

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The Mysterious Magnetospheres of Magnetars

Magnetars are the most luminous compact objects in the stellar mass range observed in the Milky Way, with giant flares of hard X-ray power ~10^45 erg/sec being detected from three soft gamma repeaters in the Galactic neighborhood. Periodicity seen in magnetar persistent emission, and a distinctive "spin-down" lengthening of this period, have driven the paradigm that strongly-magnetized neutron stars constitute these fascinating sources. The steady X-ray emission includes both thermal atmospheric components, and magnetospheric contributions that are manifested as hard X-ray "tails." This paper addresses observational and theoretical elements pertinent to the steady hard X-ray emission of magnetars, focusing on dissipative processes in their magnetospheres, and elements of Comptonization and polarization. It also discusses the action and possible signatures of the exotic and fundamental QED mechanisms of photon splitting and magnetic pair creation, and the quest for their observational vindication.

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The Multipolar Magnetic Field of Millisecond Pulsar PSR J0030+0451

Modeling of the NICER X-ray waveform of the pulsar PSR J0030+0451, aimed to constrain the neutron star mass and radius, has inferred surface hot-spots (the magnetic polar caps) that imply significantly non-dipolar magnetic fields. To this end, we investigate magnetic field configurations that comprise offset dipole plus quadrupole components using static vacuum field and force-free global magnetosphere models. Taking into account the compactness and observer angle values provided by Miller et al. (2019) and Riley et al. (2019), we compute geodesics from the observer plane to the polar caps to compute the resulting X-ray light curve. We explore, through Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques, the detailed magnetic field configurations that can reproduce the observed X-ray light curve and have discovered degeneracies, i.e., diverse field configurations, which can provide sufficient descriptions to the NICER X-ray waveforms. Having obtained the force-free field structures, we then compute the corresponding synchronous gamma-ray light curves following Kalapotharakos et al. (2014) these we compare to those obtained by Fermi-LAT, to provide models consistent with both the X-ray and the gamma-ray data, thereby restricting further the multipole field parameters. An essential aspect of this approach is the proper computation of the relative phase between the synchronous X- and gamma-ray light curves. We conclude with a discussion of the broader implications of our study.

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The NICER View of the 2020 Burst Storm and Persistent Emission of SGR 1935+2154

We report on NICER observations of the Magnetar SGR~1935+2154, covering its 2020 burst storm and long-term persistent emission evolution up to $\sim90$ days post outburst. During the first 1120~seconds taken on April 28 00:40:58 UTC we detect over 217 bursts, corresponding to a burst rate of $>0.2$ bursts s$^{-1}$. Three hours later the rate is at 0.008 bursts s$^{-1}$, remaining at a comparatively low level thereafter. The $T_{90}$ burst duration distribution peaks at 840~ms; the distribution of waiting times to the next burst is fit with a log-normal with an average of 2.1 s. The 1-10 keV burst spectra are well fit by a blackbody, with an average temperature and area of $kT=1.7$ keV and $R^2=53$ km$^2$. The differential burst fluence distribution over $\sim3$ orders of magnitude is well modeled with a power-law form $dN/dF\propto F^{-1.5\pm0.1}$. The source persistent emission pulse profile is double-peaked hours after the burst storm. We find that the bursts peak arrival times follow a uniform distribution in pulse phase, though the fast radio burst associated with the source aligns in phase with the brighter peak. We measure the source spin-down from heavy-cadence observations covering days 21 to 39 post-outburst, $\dotν=-3.72(3)\times10^{-12}$ Hz s$^{-1}$; a factor 2.7 larger than the value measured after the 2014 outburst. Finally, the persistent emission flux and blackbody temperature decrease rapidly in the early stages of the outburst, reaching quiescence 40 days later, while the size of the emitting area remains unchanged.

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Fast Radio Burst Trains from Magnetar Oscillations

Quasi-periodic oscillations inferred during rare magnetar giant flare tails were initially interpreted as torsional oscillations of the neutron star (NS) crust, and have been more recently described as global core+crust perturbations. Similar frequencies are also present in high signal-to-noise magnetar short bursts. In magnetars, disturbances of the field are strongly coupled to the NS crust regardless of the triggering mechanism of short bursts. For low-altitude magnetospheric magnetar models of fast radio bursts (FRBs) associated with magnetar short bursts, such as the low-twist model, crustal oscillations may be associated with additional radio bursts in the encompassing short burst event (as recently suggested for SGR 1935+2154). Given the large extragalactic volume probed by wide-field radio transient facilities, this offers the prospect of studying NS crusts leveraging samples far more numerous than galactic high-energy magnetar bursts by studying statistics of sub-burst structure or clustered trains of FRBs. We explore the prospects for distinguishing NS equation of state models with increasingly larger future sets of FRB observations. Lower $l$-number eigenmodes (corresponding to FRB time intervals of $\sim5-50$ ms) are likely less susceptible than high-$l$ modes to confusion by systematic effects associated with the NS crust physics, magnetic field, and damping. They may be more promising in their utility, and also may corroborate models where FRBs arise from mature magnetars. Future observational characterization of such signals can also determine whether they can be employed as cosmological "standard oscillators" to constrain redshift, or can be used to constrain the mass of FRB-producing magnetars when reliable redshifts are available.

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X-ray Through Very-High-Energy Intrabinary Shock Emission from Black Widows and Redbacks

Black widow and redback systems are compact binaries in which a millisecond pulsar heats and may even ablate its low-mass companion by its intense wind of relativistic particles and radiation. In such systems, an intrabinary shock can form as a site of particle acceleration and associated non-thermal emission. We model the X-ray and gamma-ray synchrotron and inverse-Compton spectral components for select spider binaries, including diffusion, convection and radiative energy losses in an axially-symmetric, steady-state approach. Our new multi-zone code simultaneously yields energy-dependent light curves and orbital phase-resolved spectra. Using parameter studies and matching the observed X-ray spectra and light curves, and Fermi Large Area Telescope spectra where available, with a synchrotron component, we can constrain certain model parameters. For PSR J1723--2837 these are notably the magnetic field and bulk flow speed of plasma moving along the shock tangent, the shock acceleration efficiency, and the multiplicity and spectrum of pairs accelerated by the pulsar. This affords a more robust prediction of the expected high-energy and very-high-energy gamma-ray flux. We find that nearby pulsars with hot or flaring companions may be promising targets for the future Cherenkov Telescope Array. Moreover, many spiders are likely to be of significant interest to future MeV-band missions such as AMEGO and e-ASTROGAM.

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NICER Observation of the Temporal and Spectral Evolution of Swift J1818.0-1607: a Missing Link between Magnetars and Rotation Powered Pulsars

We report on the hard X-ray burst and the first ~100 days NICER monitoring of the soft X-ray temporal and spectral evolution of the newly-discovered magnetar Swift J1818.0-1607. The burst properties are typical of magnetars with a duration of $T_{90}=10\pm4$ ms and a temperature of $kT=8.4\pm0.7$ keV. The 2--8 keV pulse shows a broad, single peak profile with a pulse fraction increasing with time from 30% to 43%. The NICER observations reveal strong timing noise with $\dotν$ varying erratically by a factor of 10, with an average long-term spin-down rate of $\dotν=(-2.48\pm0.03)\times10^{-11}$~s$^{-2}$, implying an equatorial surface magnetic field of $2.5\times10^{14}$ G and a young characteristic age of $\sim$470 yr. We detect a large spin-up glitch at MJD 58928.56 followed by a candidate spin-down glitch at MJD 58934.81, with no accompanying flux enhancements. The persistent soft X-ray spectrum of Swift~J1818.0-1607 can be modeled as an absorbed blackbody with a temperature of ~1 keV. Its flux decayed by ~60% while the modeled emitting area decreased by ~30% over the NICER observing campaign. This decrease, coupled with the increase in the pulse fraction points to a shrinking hot spot on the neutron star surface. Assuming a distance of 6.5 kpc, we measure a peak X-ray luminosity of $1.9\times10^{35}$ erg/s, lower than its spin-down luminosity of $7.2\times10^{35}$ erg/s. Its quiescent thermal luminosity is $\lesssim 1.7\times10^{34}$ erg/s, lower than those of canonical young magnetars. We conclude that Swift J1818.0-1607 is an important link between regular magnetars and high magnetic field rotation powered pulsars.

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Periodicity in recurrent fast radio bursts and the origin of ultra long period magnetars

The recurrent fast radio burst FRB 180916 was recently shown to exhibit a 16 day period (with possible aliasing) in its bursting activity. Given magnetars as widely considered FRB sources, this period has been attributed to precession of the magnetar spin axis or the orbit of a binary companion. Here, we make the simpler connection to a {\it rotational period}, an idea observationally motivated by the 6.7 hour period of the Galactic magnetar candidate, 1E 161348--5055. We explore three physical mechanisms that could lead to the creation of ultra long period magnetars: (i) enhanced spin-down due to episodic mass-loaded charged particle winds (e.g. as may accompany giant flares), (ii) angular momentum kicks from giant flares and (iii) fallback leading to long lasting accretion disks. We show that particle winds and fallback accretion can potentially lead to a sub-set of the magnetar population with ultra long periods, sufficiently long to accommodate FRB 180916 or 1E 161348--5055. If confirmed, such periods implicate magnetars in relatively mature states (ages $1-10$ kyr) and which possessed large internal magnetic fields at birth $B_{\rm int}\gtrsim 10^{16}$ G. In the low-twist magnetar model for FRBs, such long period magnetars may dominate FRB production for repeaters at lower isotropic-equivalent energies and broaden the energy distribution beyond that expected for a canonical population of magnetars which terminate their magnetic activity at shorter periods $P \lesssim 10$ s.

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Simultaneous magnetic polar cap heating during a flaring episode from the magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910

During a pointed 2018 NuSTAR observation, we detected a flare with a 2.2 hour duration from the magnetar 1RXS J170849.0$-$400910. The flare, which rose in $\sim25$ seconds to a maximum flux 6 times larger than the persistent emission, is highly pulsed with an rms pulsed fraction of $53\%$. The pulse profile shape consists of two peaks separated by half a rotational cycle, with a peak flux ratio of $\sim$2. The flare spectrum is thermal with an average temperature of 2.1 keV. Phase resolved spectroscopy show that the two peaks possess the same temperature, but differ in size. These observational results along with simple light curve modeling indicate that two identical antipodal spots, likely the magnetic poles, are heated simultaneously at the onset of the flare and for its full duration. Hence, the origin of the flare has to be connected to the global dipolar structure of the magnetar. This might best be achieved externally, via twists to closed magnetospheric dipolar field lines seeding bombardment of polar footpoint locales with energetic pairs. Approximately 1.86 hours following the onset of the flare, a short burst with its own 3-minute thermal tail occurred. The burst tail is also pulsating at the spin period of the source and phase-aligned with the flare profile, implying an intimate connection between the two phenomena. The burst may have been caused by a magnetic reconnection event in the same twisted dipolar field lines anchored to the surface hot spots, with subsequent return currents supplying extra heat to these polar caps.

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The Fast Radio Burst Luminosity Function and Death Line in the Low-Twist Magnetar Model

We explore the burst energy distribution of fast radio bursts (FRBs) in the low-twist magnetar model of Wadiasingh and Timokhin (2019). Motivated by the power-law fluence distributions of FRB 121102, we propose an elementary model for the FRB luminosity function of individual repeaters with an inversion protocol which directly relates the power-law distribution index of magnetar short burst fluences to that for FRBs. The protocol indicates the FRB energy scales virtually linearly with crust/field dislocation amplitude, if magnetar short bursts prevail in the magnetoelastic regime. Charge starvation in the magnetosphere during bursts (required in WT19) for individual repeaters implies the predicted burst fluence distribution is narrow, $\lesssim 3$ decades for yielding strains and oscillation frequencies feasible in magnetar crusts. Requiring magnetic confinement and charge starvation, we obtain a death line for FRBs which segregates magnetars from the normal pulsar population, suggesting only the former will host recurrent FRBs. We convolve the burst energy distribution for individual magnetars to define the distribution of luminosities in evolved magnetar populations. The broken power-law luminosity function's low energy character depends on the population model, while the high energy index traces that of individual repeaters. Independent of the evolved population, the broken power-law isotropic-equivalent energy/luminosity function peaks at $\sim10^{37}-10^{40}$ erg with a low-energy cutoff at $\sim 10^{37}$ erg. Lastly, we consider the local fluence distribution of FRBs, and find that it can constrain the subset of FRB-producing magnetar progenitors. Our model suggests that improvements in sensitivity may reveal flattening of the global FRB fluence distribution and saturation in FRB rates.

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Constraining the Emission Geometry and Mass of the White Dwarf Pulsar AR Sco using the Rotating Vector Model

We apply the standard radio pulsar rotating vector model to the white dwarf pulsar AR Sco's optical polarization position angle swings folded at the white dwarf's spin period as obtained by Buckley et al. (2017). Owing to the long duty cycle of spin pulsations with a good signal-to-noise ratio over the entire spin phase, in contrast to neutron star radio pulsars, we find well-constrained values for the magnetic obliquity $α$ and observer viewing direction $ζ$ with respect to the spin axis. We find $\cosα=0.060^{+0.050}_{-0.053}$ and $\cosζ=0.49^{+0.09}_{-0.08}$, implying an orthogonal rotator with an observer angle $ζ={60.4^\circ}^{+5.3^\circ}_{-6.0^\circ}$. This orthogonal nature of the rotator is consistent with the optical light curve consisting of two pulses per spin period, separated by $180^\circ$ in phase. Under the assumption that $ζ\approx i$, where $i$ is the orbital inclination, and a Roche-lobe-filling companion M star, we obtain $m_{\rm WD} = 1.00^{+0.16}_{-0.10} M_\odot$ for the white dwarf mass. These polarization modeling results suggest the that non-thermal emission arises from a dipolar white dwarf magnetosphere and close to the star, with synchrotron radiation (if non-zero pitch angles can be maintained) being the plausible loss mechanism, marking AR Sco as an exceptional system for future theoretical and observational study.

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A Fundamental Plane for Gamma-Ray Pulsars

We show that the $γ$-ray pulsar observables, i.e., their total $γ$-ray luminosity, $L_γ$, spectral cut-off energy, $ε_{\rm cut}$, stellar surface magnetic field, $B_{\star}$, and spin-down power $\dot{\mathcal{E}}$, obey a relation of the form $L_γ=f(ε_{\rm cut},B_{\star},\dot{\mathcal{E}})$, which represents a 3D plane in their 4D log-space. Fitting the data of 88 pulsars of the second Fermi pulsar catalog, we show this relation to be $L_γ\propto ε_{\rm cut}^{1.18\pm 0.24}B_{\star}^{0.17\pm 0.05}\dot{\mathcal{E}}^{0.41\pm 0.08}$, a pulsar fundamental plane (FP). We show that the observed FP is remarkably close to the theoretical relation $L_γ\propto ε_{\rm cut}^{4/3}B_{\star}^{1/6}\dot{\mathcal{E}}^{5/12}$ obtained assuming that the pulsar $γ$-ray emission is due to curvature radiation by particles accelerated at the pulsar equatorial current sheet just outside the light cylinder. Interestingly, the FP seems incompatible with emission by synchrotron radiation. The corresponding scatter about the FP is $\sim 0.35$dex and can only partly be explained by the observational errors while the rest is probably due to the variation of the inclination and observer angles. We predict also that $ε_{\rm cut}\propto \dot{\mathcal{E}}^{7/16}$ toward low $\dot{\mathcal{E}}$ for both young and millisecond pulsars implying that the observed death-line of $γ$-ray pulsars is due to $ε_{\rm cut}$ dropping below the Fermi-band. Our results provide a comprehensive interpretation of the observations of $γ$-ray pulsars, setting requirement for successful theoretical modeling.

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Repeating Fast Radio Bursts from Magnetars with Low Magnetospheric Twist

We analyze the statistics of pulse arrival times in fast radio burst (FRB) 121102 and demonstrate that they are remarkably similar to statistics of magnetar high-energy short bursts. Motivated by this correspondence, we propose that repeating FRBs are generated during short bursts in the closed field line zone of magnetar magnetospheres via a pulsar-like emission mechanism. Crustal slippage events dislocate field line foot points, initiating intense particle acceleration and pair production, giving rise to coherent radio emission similar to that generated near pulsar polar caps. We argue that the energetics of FRB 121102 can be readily accounted for if the efficiency of the conversion of Poynting flux into coherent radio emission is $\sim10^{-4}-10^{-2}$, values consistent with empirical efficiencies of radio emission in pulsars and radio-loud magnetars. Such a mechanism could operate only in magnetars with preexisting low twist of the magnetosphere, so that the charge density in the closed zone is initially insufficient to screen the electric field provoked by the wiggling of magnetic field lines and is low enough to let $\sim 1$ GHz radio emission escape the magnetosphere, which can explain the absence of FRBs from known magnetars. The pair cascades crowd the closed flux tubes with plasma, screening the accelerating electric field, thus limiting the radio pulse duration to $\sim1$ ms. Within the framework of our model, the current dataset of the polarization angle variation in FRB 121102 suggests a magnetic obliquity $α\lesssim40^\circ$ and viewing angle $ζ$ with respect to the spin axis $α<ζ<180^\circ-α$.

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Opacities for Photon Splitting and Pair Creation in Neutron Star Magnetospheres

Over the last four decades, persistent and flaring emission of magnetars observed by various telescopes has provided us with a suite of light curves and spectra in soft and hard X-rays, with no emission yet detected above around 1 MeV. Attenuation of such high-energy photons by magnetic pair creation and photon splitting is expected to be active in the magnetospheres of magnetars, possibly accounting for the paucity of gamma-rays in their signals. This paper explores polarization-dependent opacities for these two QED processes in static vacuum dipole magnetospheres of highly-magnetized neutron stars, calculating attenuation lengths and determining escape energies, which are the maximum photon energies for transparency out to infinity. The numerical trajectory integral analysis in flat and curved spacetimes provides upper bounds of a few MeV or less to the visible energies for magnetars for locales proximate to the stellar surface. Photon splitting opacity alone puts constraints on the possible emission locales in their magnetospheres: regions within field loops of maximum altitudes 2-4 stellar radii are not commensurate with maximum detected energies of around 250 keV. These constraints apply not only to magnetar flares but also to their quiescent hard X-ray tail emission. An exploration of photon splitting attenuation in the context of a resonant inverse Compton scattering model for the hard X-ray tails derives distinctive phase-resolved spectroscopic and polarimetric signatures, of significant interest for future MeV-band missions such as AMEGO and e-ASTROGAM.

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