We explore the formation and evolution of debris ejected around quark stars
in the Quark Nova scenario, and the application to Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters
(SGRs) and Anomolous X-ray Pulsars (AXPs). If an isolated neutron star explodes
as a Quark Nova, an Iron-rich shell of degenerate matter forms out of the
fall-back (crust) material. Our model can account for many of the observed
features of SGRs and AXPs such as: (i) the two types of bursts (giant and
regular); (ii) the spin-up and spin-down episodes during and following the
bursts with associated persistant increases in P˙; (iii) the energetics
of the boxing day burst, SGR1806+20; (iv) the presence of an Iron line as
observed in SGR1900+14; (v) the correlation between the far-Infrared and the
X-ray fluxes during the bursting episode and the quiescent phase; (vi) the hard
X-ray component observed in SGRs during the giant bursts, and (vii) the
discrepancy between the ages of SGRs/AXPs and their supernova remnants. We also
find a natural evolutionary relationship between SGRs and AXPs in our model
which predicts that only the youngest SGRs/AXPs are most likely to exhibit
strong bursting. Many features of X-ray Dim Isolated Neutron stars (XDINs) are
also accounted for in our model such as, (i) the two-component blackbody
spectra; (ii) the absorption lines around 300 eV; and (iii) the excess optical
emission.Comment: submitted to Ap