Studies were made of the 1-70 keV persistent spectra of fifteen magnetars as a complete sample observed with Suzaku from 2006 to 2013. Combined with early NuSTAR observations of four hard X-ray emitters, nine objects showed a hard power-law emission dominating at 10 keV with the 15-60 keV flux of ∼1-11 × 10 −11 ergs s −1 cm −2 . The hard X-ray luminosity L h , relative to that of a soft-thermal surface radiation L s , tends to become higher toward younger and strongly magnetized objects. Updated from the previous study, their hardness ratio, defined as ξ = L h /L s , is correlated with the measured spin-down rateṖ as ξ = 0.62 × (Ṗ /10 −11 s s −1 ) 0.72 , corresponding with positive and negative correlations of the dipole field strength B d (ξ ∝ B d) and the characteristic age τ c (ξ ∝ τ −0.68 c ), respectively. Among our sample, five transients were observed during X-ray outbursts, and the results are compared with their long-term 1-10 keV flux decays monitored with Swift/XRT and RXTE/PCA. Fading curves of three bright outbursts are approximated by an empirical formula used in the seismology, showing a ∼10-40 d plateau phase. Transients show the maximum luminosities of L s ∼1035 erg s −1 , which is comparable to those of the persistently bright ones, and fade back to 10 32 erg s −1 . Spectral properties are discussed in a framework of the magnetar hypothesis.

Magnetars are a special type of neutron stars, considered to have extreme dipole magnetic fields reaching ∼ 10(11) T. The magnetar 4 U 0142+61, one of the prototypes of this class, was studied in broadband x rays (0.5-70 keV) with the Suzaku observatory. In hard x rays (15-40 keV), its 8.69 sec pulsations suffered slow phase modulations by ± 0.7 sec, with a period of ∼ 15 h. When this effect is interpreted as free precession of the neutron star, the object is inferred to deviate from spherical symmetry by ∼ 1.6 × 10(-4) in its moments of inertia. This deformation, when ascribed to magnetic pressure, suggests a strong toroidal magnetic field, ∼ 10(12) T, residing inside the object. This provides one of the first observational approaches towards toroidal magnetic fields of magnetars.

Ages of the magnetar 1E 2259+586 and the associated supernova remnant CTB 109 were studied. Analyzing the Suzaku data of CTB 109, its age was estimated to be ∼14 kyr, which is much shorter than the measured characteristic age of 1E 2259+586, 230 kyr. This reconfirms the previously reported age discrepancy of this magnetar/remnant association, and suggests that the characteristic ages of magnetars are generally over-estimated as compared to their true ages. This discrepancy is thought to arise because the former are calculated without considering decay of the magnetic fields. This novel view is supported independently by much stronger Galactic-plane concentration of magnetars than other pulsars. The process of magnetic field decay in magnetars is mathematically modeled. It is implied that magnetars are much younger objects than previously considered, and can dominate new-born neutron stars.

The energy state, concentration, and potential energy for both electrons and holes in the channel of InAlAs/InGaAs high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were studied using the theory based on the local density functional method. The numerical result shows that the potential profile changes from the triangle to the square well as the sheet concentration of holes accumulated in the source region ( p s) increases above the sheet concentration of the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) because the same amount of electrons as holes was injected from the source to maintain the charge neutrality in the channel. As a result, the quasi-Fermi energy increased and the potential energy of electrons in the channel approached that of the square-well potential, the former led to an increase in the threshold voltage (V TH). The overlap integral between the wavefunctions of an electron and a hole was estimated as a function of the channel thickness (L z ) and was shown to decrease with increasing L z . A detailed theory concerning the relation between the V TH shift and p s was developed and compared with the experimental results. In this theory, the recombination of holes with 2DEG was taken into account, on the assumption that the dominant process was due to the non-radiative Auger recombination mechanism.

Archival NuSTAR data of the magnetar 4U 0142+61, acquired in 2014 March for a total time span of 258 ks, were analyzed. This is to reconfirm the 55 ks modulation in the hard X-ray pulse phases of this source, found with a Suzaku observation in 2009(Makishima et al. 2014. Indeed, the 10-70 keV X-ray pulsation, detected with NuSTAR at 8.68917 s, was found to be also phase-modulated (at > 98% confidence) at the same ∼ 55 ks period, or half that value.

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The Suzaku data of the highly variable magnetar 1E 1547.0−5408, obtained during the 2009 January activity, were reanalyzed. The 2.07 s pulsation, detected in the 15-40 keV HXD data, was found to exhibit phase modulation, which can be modeled by a sinusoid with a period of 36.0 +4.5 −2.5 ks and an amplitude of 0.52 ± 0.14 s. While the effect is also seen in the 10-14 keV XIS data, the modulation amplitude decreased towards lower energies, becoming consistent with 0 below 4 keV. After the case of 4U 0142+61, this makes the 2nd example of this kind of behavior detected from magnetars. The effect can be interpreted as a manifestation of torque-free precession of this magnetar, which is suggested to be prolately deformed under the presence of strong toroidal field of ∼ 10 16 G.

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