On Acceleration of Highest-energy Cosmic Rays in a Novel Scenario of Magnetar Transients

Abstract Transient phenomena in magnetars have been considered as possible acceleration sites of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (CRs), whose energy reaches ∼200 EeV, such as the Amaterasu particle. However, the process of CR acceleration and the trigger mechanism of magnetar transients remain unclear. A recently suggested scenario for the activity predicts that the magnetar’s rotation axis suddenly flips due to the “Dzhanibekov effect,” resulting in a sudden rise of the Euler force. The material in the outer layer plastically flows due to the force and finally fractures in this scenario. We study the possibilities of ion acceleration along with this scenario. If the degenerate electrons burst open from the fractured region like a balloon burst, the pair plasma formation can be ignited inside the crust. We find that such pair plasma can emit photons similar to the observed bursts from magnetars. We also find that the electron stream at the beginning of the burst phenomenon possibly induces a strong electric field for a moment, resulting in the acceleration of ∼1 ZeV ion within a timescale of ∼1 ps. The nuclear spallation reactions limit this timescale, and therefore, high-energy CR “neutrons” from the parenteral nuclei become proper observational predictions of this scenario: their arrival time and direction will be correlated with the bursting photon emissions of the host magnetars. The nuclear spallation of ∼1 ZeV nuclei is preferred to explain ≳10 PeV neutrino events observed by IceCube and KM3Net.