Are gravitational waves from giant magnetar flares observable?

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Are giant flares in magnetars viable sources of gravitational radiation? Few theoretical studies have been concerned with this problem, with the small number using either highly idealized models or assuming a magnetic field orders of magnitude beyond what is supported by observations.

• We perform nonlinear general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics simulations of large-scale hydromagnetic instabilities in magnetar models.
• We utilise these models to find gravitational wave emissions over a wide range of energies, from 10^40 to 10^47 erg.
• This allows us to derive a systematic relationship between the surface field strength and the gravitational wave strain, which we find to be highly nonlinear.