Spectral Shapes of Pair Annihilation Line Emission in Magnetar Giant Flares

Abstract We investigate the gamma-ray spectrum in the MeV range arising from electron–positron pair annihilation in fireballs associated with magnetar giant flares (MGFs), motivated by the recent observation of a MeV gamma-ray line feature in a bright gamma-ray burst, GRB 221009A. We develop an analytic model of line emission, demonstrating that relativistic beaming results in a broadened power-law spectral feature with a photon index of −1. We then perform Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations incorporating electron–positron pair production, annihilation, and Compton scattering. The dependence of the emergent spectrum on the baryon loading is also examined, showing that a baryon-poor fireball is more favorable for the detection of MeV gamma rays. We further assess the detectability of the line component. The simulation results indicate that a power-law MeV component from the initial spike of a Galactic MGF could be observed with current instruments, such as Fermi/GBM, and will be well within the reach of upcoming MeV gamma-ray satellites, which are expected to detect <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi class="MJX-tex-calligraphic" mathvariant="script">O</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>100</mml:mn> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:math> photons from such events.