The Very Early Soft X-Ray Plateau of GRB 230307A: Signature of an Evolving Radiative Efficiency in Magnetar Wind Dissipation?

Abstract

Very recently, a particularly long gamma-ray burst (GRB) 230307A was reported and proposed to originate from a compact binary merger based on its host galaxy property, kilonova, and heavy elements. More intriguingly, a very early plateau followed by a rapid decline in the soft X-ray band was detected in its light curve by the Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy, indicating strong evidence of the existence of a magnetar as the merger product. This Letter explores the magnetar wind internal gradual magnetic dissipation model, in which the radiative efficiency evolves over time, and successfully fits it to the observed data. Our results reinforce the notion that the X-ray plateau serves as a powerful indicator of a magnetar and imply that an evolving efficiency is likely to be a common feature in X-ray plateaus of GRB afterglows. In addition, we also discuss the explanations for the prompt emission, GRB afterglows, as well as kilonova, and predict possible kilonova afterglows in a magnetar central engine.

Keywords

• Magnetars
• Gamma-ray bursts
• Compact binary stars