164 research outputs found
A Proposal to Localize Fermi GBM GRBs Through Coordinated Scanning of the GBM Error Circle via Optical Telescopes
We investigate the feasibility of implementing a system that will coordinate
ground-based optical telescopes to cover the Fermi GBM Error Circle (EC). The
aim of the system is to localize GBM detected GRBs and facilitate
multi-wavelength follow-up from space and ground. This system will optimize the
observing locations in the GBM EC based on individual telescope location, Field
of View (FoV) and sensitivity. The proposed system will coordinate GBM EC
scanning by professional as well as amateur astronomers around the world. The
results of a Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the feasibility of the
project are presented.Comment: 2011 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C11050
The First Swift BAT Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog
We present the first Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) catalog of gamma-ray
bursts (GRBs), which contains bursts detected by the BAT between 2004 December
19 and 2007 June 16. This catalog (hereafter BAT1 catalog) contains burst
trigger time, location, 90% error radius, duration, fluence, peak flux, and
time averaged spectral parameters for each of 237 GRBs, as measured by the BAT.
The BAT-determined position reported here is within 1.75' of the Swift X-ray
Telescope (XRT)-determined position for 90% of these GRBs. The BAT T_90 and
T_50 durations peak at 80 and 20 seconds, respectively. From the
fluence-fluence correlation, we conclude that about 60% of the observed peak
energies, Epeak, of BAT GRBs could be less than 100 keV. We confirm that GRB
fluence to hardness and GRB peak flux to hardness are correlated for BAT bursts
in analogous ways to previous missions' results. The correlation between the
photon index in a simple power-law model and Epeak is also confirmed. We also
report the current status for the on-orbit BAT calibrations based on
observations of the Crab Nebula.Comment: 63 pages, 23 figures, Accepted in ApJS, Corrected for the BAT ground
position, the image significance, and the error radius of GRB 051105, Five
machine-readable tables are available at
http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/results/bat1_catalog
Three-dimensional segmentation of three-dimensional ultrasound carotid atherosclerosis using sparse field level sets.
PURPOSE: Three-dimensional ultrasound (3DUS) vessel wall volume (VWV) provides a 3D measurement of carotid artery wall remodeling and atherosclerotic plaque and is sensitive to temporal changes of carotid plaque burden. Unfortunately, although 3DUS VWV provides many advantages compared to measurements of arterial wall thickening or plaque alone, it is still not widely used in research or clinical practice because of the inordinate amount of time required to train observers and to generate 3DUS VWV measurements. In this regard, semiautomated methods for segmentation of the carotid media-adventitia boundary (MAB) and the lumen-intima boundary (LIB) would greatly improve the time to train observers and for them to generate 3DUS VWV measurements with high reproducibility.
METHODS: The authors describe a 3D algorithm based on a modified sparse field level set method for segmenting the MAB and LIB of the common carotid artery (CCA) from 3DUS images. To the authors\u27 knowledge, the proposed algorithm is the first direct 3D segmentation method, which has been validated for segmenting both the carotid MAB and the LIB from 3DUS images for the purpose of computing VWV. Initialization of the algorithm requires the observer to choose anchor points on each boundary on a set of transverse slices with a user-specified interslice distance (ISD), in which larger ISD requires fewer user interactions than smaller ISD. To address the challenges of the MAB and LIB segmentations from 3DUS images, the authors integrated regional- and boundary-based image statistics, expert initializations, and anatomically motivated boundary separation into the segmentation. The MAB is segmented by incorporating local region-based image information, image gradients, and the anchor points provided by the observer. Moreover, a local smoothness term is utilized to maintain the smooth surface of the MAB. The LIB is segmented by constraining its evolution using the already segmented surface of the MAB, in addition to the global region-based information and the anchor points. The algorithm-generated surfaces were sliced and evaluated with respect to manual segmentations on a slice-by-slice basis using 21 3DUS images.
RESULTS: The authors used ISD of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10 mm for algorithm initialization to generate segmentation results. The algorithm-generated accuracy and intraobserver variability results are comparable to the previous methods, but with fewer user interactions. For example, for the ISD of 3 mm, the algorithm yielded an average Dice coefficient of 94.4% ± 2.2% and 90.6% ± 5.0% for the MAB and LIB and the coefficient of variation of 6.8% for computing the VWV of the CCA, while requiring only 1.72 min (vs 8.3 min for manual segmentation) for a 3DUS image.
CONCLUSIONS: The proposed 3D semiautomated segmentation algorithm yielded high-accuracy and high-repeatability, while reducing the expert interaction required for initializing the algorithm than the previous 2D methods
Spectral Cross-calibration of the Konus-Wind, the Suzaku/WAM, and the Swift/BAT Data using Gamma-Ray Bursts
We report on the spectral cross-calibration results of the Konus-Wind, the
Suzaku/WAM, and the Swift/BAT instruments using simultaneously observed
gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). This is the first attempt to use simultaneously
observed GRBs as a spectral calibration source to understand systematic
problems among the instruments. Based on these joint spectral fits, we find
that 1) although a constant factor (a normalization factor) agrees within 20%
among the instruments, the BAT constant factor shows a systematically smaller
value by 10-20% compared to that of Konus-Wind, 2) there is a systematic trend
that the low-energy photon index becomes steeper by 0.1-0.2 and Epeak becomes
systematically higher by 10-20% when including the BAT data in the joint fits,
and 3) the high-energy photon index agrees within 0.2 among the instruments.
Our results show that cross-calibration based on joint spectral analysis is an
important step to understanding the instrumental effects which could be
affecting the scientific results from the GRB prompt emission data.Comment: 82 pages, 88 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
The Second Swift BAT Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog
We present the second Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) catalog of gamma-ray
bursts (GRBs), which contains 476 bursts detected by the BAT between 2004
December 19 and 2009 December 21. This catalog (hereafter the BAT2 catalog)
presents burst trigger time, location, 90% error radius, duration, fluence,
peak flux, time-averaged spectral parameters and time-resolved spectral
parameters measured by the BAT. In the correlation study of various observed
parameters extracted from the BAT prompt emission data, we distinguish among
long-duration GRBs (L-GRBs), short-duration GRBs (S-GRBs), and short-duration
GRBs with extended emission (S-GRBs with E.E.) to investigate differences in
the prompt emission properties. The fraction of L-GRBs, S-GRBs and S-GRBs with
E.E. in the catalog are 89%, 8% and 2% respectively. We compare the BAT prompt
emission properties with the BATSE, BeppoSAX and HETE-2 GRB samples. We also
correlate the observed prompt emission properties with the redshifts for the
GRBs with known redshift. The BAT T90 and T50 durations peak at 70 s and 30 s,
respectively. We confirm that the spectra of the BAT S-GRBs are generally
harder than those of the L-GRBs. The time-averaged spectra of the BAT S-GRBs
with E.E. are similar to those of the L-GRBs. Whereas, the spectra of the
initial short spikes of the S-GRBs with E.E. are similar to those of the
S-GRBs. We show that the BAT GRB samples are significantly softer than the
BATSE bright GRBs, and that the time-averaged Epeak of the BAT GRBs peaks at 80
keV which is significantly lower energy than those of the BATSE sample which
peak at 320 keV. The time-averaged spectral properties of the BAT GRB sample
are similar to those of the HETE-2 GRB samples. By time-resolved spectral
analysis, we find that only 10% of the BAT observed photon indices are outside
the allowed region of the synchrotron shock model.Comment: 65 pages, 33 figures, 13 tables, Accepted in ApJS, Nine
machine-readable tables are available at
http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/results/bat2_catalog
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A Photometric Redshift of z ~ 9.4 for GRB 090429B
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) serve as powerful probes of the early universe, with their luminous afterglows revealing the locations and physical properties of star-forming galaxies at the highest redshifts, and potentially locating first-generation (Population III) stars. Since GRB afterglows have intrinsically very simple spectra, they allow robust redshifts from low signal-to-noise spectroscopy, or photometry. Here we present a photometric redshift of z ~ 9.4 for the Swift detected GRB 090429B based on deep observations with Gemini-North, the Very Large Telescope, and the GRB Optical and Near-infrared Detector. Assuming a Small Magellanic Cloud dust law (which has been found in a majority of GRB sight lines), the 90% likelihood range for the redshift is 9.06 7. The non-detection of the host galaxy to deep limits (Y(AB) ~ 28, which would correspond roughly to 0.001L* at z = 1) in our late-time optical and infrared observations with the Hubble Space Telescope strongly supports the extreme-redshift origin of GRB 090429B, since we would expect to have detected any low-z galaxy, even if it were highly dusty. Finally, the energetics of GRB 090429B are comparable to those of other GRBs and suggest that its progenitor is not greatly different from those of lower redshift bursts
Epeak estimator for Gamma-Ray Bursts Observed by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope
We report a correlation based on a spectral simulation study of the prompt
emission spectra of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Swift Burst Alert
Telescope (BAT). The correlation is between the Epeak energy, which is the peak
energy in the \nu F_\nu spectrum, and the photon index (\Gamma) derived from a
simple power-law model. The Epeak - \Gamma relation, assuming the typical
smoothly broken power-law spectrum of GRBs, is \log Epeak = 3.258 - 0.829\Gamma
(1.3 < \Gamma < 2.3). We take into account not only a range of Epeak energies
and fluences, but also distributions for both the low-energy photon index and
the high-energy photon index in the smoothly broken power-law model. The
distribution of burst durations in the BAT GRB sample is also included in the
simulation. Our correlation is consistent with the index observed by BAT and
Epeak measured by the BAT, and by other GRB instruments. Since about 85% of
GRBs observed by the BAT are acceptably fit with the simple power-law model
because of the relatively narrow energy range of the BAT, this relationship can
be used to estimate Epeak when it is located within the BAT energy range.Comment: 27 pages, 31 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Agile Detection of Delayed Gamma-Ray Emission from the Short Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 090510
Short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), typically lasting less than 2 s, are a special
class of GRBs of great interest. We report the detection by the AGILE satellite
of the short GRB 090510 which shows two clearly distinct emission phases: a
prompt phase lasting ~ 200 msec and a second phase lasting tens of seconds. The
prompt phase is relatively intense in the 0.3-10 MeV range with a spectrum
characterized by a large peak/cutoff energy near 3 MeV, in this phase, no
significant high-energy gamma-ray emission is detected. At the end of the
prompt phase, intense gamma-ray emission above 30 MeV is detected showing a
power-law time decay of the flux of the type t^-1.3 and a broad-band spectrum
remarkably different from that of the prompt phase. It extends from sub-MeV to
hundreds of MeV energies with a photon index alpha ~ 1.5. GRB 090510 provides
the first case of a short GRB with delayed gamma-ray emission. We present the
timing and spectral data of GRB 090510 and briefly discuss its remarkable
properties within the current models of gamma-ray emission of short GRBs.Comment: Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal Letters on September 11, 200
Variable Ly alpha sheds light on the environment surrounding GRB 090426
Long duration gamma-ray bursts are commonly associated with the deaths of
massive stars. Spectroscopic studies using the afterglow as a light source
provide a unique opportunity to unveil the medium surrounding it, probing the
densest region of their galaxies. This material is usually in a low ionisation
state and at large distances from the burst site, hence representing the normal
interstellar medium in the galaxy. Here we present the case of GRB 090426 at
z=2.609, whose optical spectrum indicates an almost fully ionised medium
together with a low column density of neutral hydrogen. For the first time, we
also observe variations in the Ly alpha absorption line. Photoionisation
modeling shows that we are probing material from the vicinity of the burst (~80
pc). The host galaxy is a complex of two luminous interacting galaxies, which
might suggest that this burst could have occurred in an isolated star-forming
region outside its host galaxy created in the interaction of the two galaxies.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, submitted to MNRA
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