The Peculiar Precursor of a Gamma-Ray Burst from a Binary Merger Involving a Magnetar

The milestone discovery of GW170817-GRB 170817A-AT 2017gfo has shown that gravitational waves (GWs) could be produced during the merger of a neutron star–neutron star/black hole and that in electromagnetic (EM) waves, a gamma-ray burst (GRB) and a kilonova (KN) are generated in sequence after the merger. Observationally, however, EM properties before the merger phase are still unclear. Here we report a peculiar precursor in a KN-associated long-duration GRB 211211A, providing evidence of the EM before the merger. This precursor lasts ∼0.2 s, and the waiting time between the precursor and the main burst is ∼1 s, comparable to that between GW170817 and GRB 170817A. The spectrum of the precursor could be well fit with a nonthermal cutoff power-law model instead of a blackbody. In particular, a ∼22 Hz quasiperiodic oscillation candidate (∼3σ) is detected in the precursor. These temporal and spectral properties indicate that this precursor is probably produced by a catastrophic flare accompanied with magnetoelastic or crustal oscillations of a magnetar in a binary compact merger. The strong magnetic field of the magnetar can also account for the prolonged duration of GRB 211211A. However, it poses a challenge to reconcile the rather short lifetime of a magnetar with the rather long spiraling time of a binary neutron star system only by the GW radiation before the merger.