Possible Evidence for Free Precession of a Strongly Magnetized Neutron Star in the Magnetar 4U 0142+61
Magnetars are a special type of neutron stars, considered to have extreme dipole magnetic fields reaching approximately 10(exp 11) T. The magnetar 4U 0142þ61, 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 approximately 15 h. When this effect is interpreted as free precession of the neutron star, the object is inferred to deviate from spherical symmetry by approximately 1.6 x 10(epx -4) in its moments of inertia. This deformation, when ascribed to magnetic pressure, suggest a strong toroidal magnetic field, approximately 10(exp 12) T, residing inside the object. This provides one of the first observational approaches towards toroidal magnetic fields of magnetars.