Probing the Nature of High-Redshift Long GRB 250114A and Its Magnetar Central Engine
Abstract
GRB 250114A is a long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) which triggered the Swift/BAT with a spectroscopic high-redshift at . The light curve of the prompt emission is composed of three distinct emission episodes, which are separated by quiescent gaps ranging from tens to hundreds of seconds. While the X-ray light curve exhibits the canonical X-ray emission which is composed of several power-law segments superposition of a giant X-ray flare. More interestingly, there is still significant X-ray emission during the quiescent time in the prompt emission, suggesting a continuously active central engine whose power fluctuates across the -ray detectability threshold. In this paper, we propose a magnetar as the central engine of GRB 250114A by fitting the X-ray light curve, and infer a magnetic field strength and an initial spin period of magnetar, with a jet correction, fall within a reasonable range. Furthermore, we also compare the prompt emission, X-ray afterglow, -, and distribution of GBR 250114A with those of other high- sample-GRBs, and find no significant statistical differences between them.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2511.21419,
title = {Probing the Nature of High-Redshift Long GRB 250114A and Its Magnetar Central Engine},
author = {Wen-Yuan Yu and Hou-Jun Lü and Xiao Tian and Liang-Jun Chen and En-Wei Liang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.21419},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
16 pages, 7 figures, and 3 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ