Persistent Emission Properties of SGR J1935+2154 during Its 2020 Active Episode

Abstract

We present detailed spectral and temporal characteristics of the persistent X-ray emission of SGR J1935+2154 based on our XMM-Newton and Chandra observations taken in the aftermath of its 2020 April burst storm, during which hundreds of energetic X-ray bursts were emitted, including one associated with an extraordinary fast radio burst. We clearly detect the pulsed X-ray emission in the XMM-Newton data. An average spin-down rate of 1.6 × 10^-11 s s^-1 is obtained using our spin period measurement combined with three earlier values reported from the same active episode. Our investigations of the XMM-Newton and Chandra spectra with a variety of phenomenological and physically motivated models concluded that the magnetic field topology of SGR J1935+2154 is most likely highly nondipolar. The spectral models indicate that surface field strengths in somewhat localized regions substantially exceed the polar value of 4.4 × 10¹⁴ G inferred from a spin-down torque associated with a rotating magnetic dipole.