We have analyzed the long-term evolution and the X-ray outburst light curve of SGR 0501+4516 in the frame of the fallback disc model .
We have shown that the X-ray luminosity , period and period derivative of this typical soft gamma repeater can be achieved by a neutron star with a large range of initial disc masses provided that the source has a magnetic dipole field of \sim 1.4 \times 10 ^ { 12 } G on the pole of the star .
At present , the star is accreting matter from the disc , which has an age \sim 3 \times 10 ^ { 4 } yr , and will remain in the accretion phase until t \sim 2 – 5 \times 10 ^ { 5 } yr depending on the initial disc mass .
With its current rotational rate , this source is not expected to give pulsed radio emission even if the accretion on to the star is hindered by some mechanism .
The X-ray enhancement light curve of SGR 0501+4516 can be accounted for by the same model applied earlier to the X-ray enhancement light curves of other anomalous X-ray pulsars/soft gamma repeaters with the same basic disc parameters .
We have further shown that the optical/IR data of SGR 0501+4516 is in good agreement with the emission from an irradiated fallback disc with the properties consistent with our long-term evolution model .