SIMBAD references

Sudden relaxation of the magnetic field in the core of a magnetar produces mechanical energy primarily in the form of shear waves which propagate to the surface and enter the magnetosphere as relativistic Alfvén waves. Due to a strong impedance mismatch, shear waves excited in the star suffer many reflections before exiting the star. If mechanical energy is deposited in the core and is converted directly to radiation upon propagation to the surface, the rise time of the emission is at least seconds to minutes, and probably minutes to hours for a realistic magnetic field geometry, at odds with observed rise times of ≲ 10 ms for both small and giant flares. Mechanisms for both small and giant flares that rely on the sudden relaxation of the magnetic field of the core are rendered unviable by the impedance mismatch, requiring the energy that drives these events to be stored in the magnetosphere just before the flare. A corollary to this conclusion is that if the quasi-periodic oscillations seen in giant flares represent stellar oscillations, they must be excited by the magnetosphere, not by mechanical energy released inside the star. Excitation of stellar oscillations by relativistic Alfvén waves in the magnetosphere could be quick enough to excite stellar modes well before a giant flare ends, unless the waves are quickly damped.