RXTE OBSERVATIONS OF ANOMALOUS X-RAY PULSAR 1E 1547.0-5408 DURING AND AFTER ITS 2008 AND 2009 OUTBURSTS

We present the results of Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer and Swift monitoring observations of the magnetar 1E 1547.0-5408 following the pulsar's radiative outbursts in 2008 October and 2009 January. We report on a study of the evolution of the timing properties and the pulsed flux from 2008 October 4 through 2009 December 26. In our timing study, a phase-coherent analysis shows that for the first 29 days following the 2008 outburst, there was a very fast increase in the magnitude of the rotational frequency derivative {nu}-dot, such that {nu}-ddot was a factor of {approx}60 larger than that reported in data from 2007. This {nu}-dot magnitude increase occurred in concert with the decay of the pulsed flux following the start of the 2008 event. Following the 2009 outburst, for the first 23 days, {nu}-ddot was consistent with zero, and {nu}-dot had returned to close to its 2007 value. In contrast to the 2008 event, the 2009 outburst showed a major increase in persistent flux, relatively little change in the pulsed flux, and sudden significant spectral hardening {approx}15 days after the outburst. We show that, excluding the month following each of the outbursts, and because of the noise and the sparsity inmore » the data, multiple plausible timing solutions fit the pulsar's frequency behavior. We note similarities in the behavior of 1E 1547.0-5408 following the 2008 outburst to that seen in the AXP 1E 1048.1-5937 following its 2001-2002 outburst and discuss this in terms of the magnetar model.« less