Constraints on the magnetic field geometry of magnetars

Abstract

We study the effect of the magnetic field geometry on the oscillation spectra of strongly magnetized stars. We construct a configuration of magnetic field where a toroidal component is added to the standard poloidal one. We consider a star with a type I superconductor core so that both components of the magnetic field are expelled from the core and confined in the crust. Our results show that the toroidal contribution does not influence significantly the torsional oscillations of the crust. On the contrary, the confinement of the magnetic field in the crust drastically affects the torsional oscillation spectrum. A comparison with estimations for the magnetic field strength, from observations, excludes the possibility that magnetars will have a magnetic field solely confined in the crust, that is, our results suggest that the magnetic field in whatever geometry has to permeate the whole star. © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 RAS.