A note on identifying continuous gravitational wave emission signatures of magnetars in gamma-ray bursts

Abstract

Continuous gravitational waves (GWs) of neutrons stars haven't been detected directly until now. One possible way to indirectly identify their signatures is via the correlation between magnetars and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), since, under this magnetar scenario of GRBs, GW radiation can affect the evolution of GRB X-ray light curves. Nevertheless, relevant studies lack essential details of this GRB magnetar scenario. For instance, the authors tend to avoid answering the questions like why GRB X-ray light curves can record the information of gravitational wave emissions, what are the reliable criteria for selecting samples that can reveal GW information, and what are the limitations of this GRB-magnetar scenario. In this paper, we elucidate these issues in detail.