  X-ray emission following giant flares of magnetars can be categorized into
three categories of time scales (a) short term afterglow (b) medium term
afterglow and (c) long term afterglow. Short term afterglow, which declines
over several hours, seems to correspond to gravitational resettling of uplifted
material. Medium term afterglow, which declines over several weeks or months,
appears to be the cooling of the heated outer crust, and long term afterglow,
which declines over a period of many years, can be understood to be the cooling
of the inner crust. The long term afterglow profile may be a very sensitive
indicator of neutron star mass.
