216 research outputs found
GRB Spectral Hardness and Afterglow Properties
A possible relationship between the presence of a radio afterglow and
gamma-ray burst spectral hardness is discussed. The correlation is marginally
significant; the spectral hardness of the bursts with radio afterglows
apparently results from a combination of the break energy Ebreak and the
high-energy spectral index beta. If valid, this relationship would indicate
that the afterglow does carry information pertaining to the GRB central engine.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, presented at the 5th Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst
Symposiu
A Simple BATSE Measure of GRB Duty Cycle
We introduce a definition of gamma-ray burst (GRB) duty cycle that describes
the GRB's efficiency as an emitter; it is the GRB's average flux relative to
the peak flux. This GRB duty cycle is easily described in terms of measured
BATSE parameters; it is essentially fluence divided by the quantity peak flux
times duration. Since fluence and duration are two of the three defining
characteristics of the GRB classes identified by statistical clustering
techniques (the other is spectral hardness), duty cycle is a potentially
valuable probe for studying properties of these classes.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, presented at the 5th Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst
Symposiu
Synchrotron Emission as the Source of GRB Spectra, Part II: Observations
We test the models of synchrotron emission presented in Part I of this series
(Lloyd & Petrosian, these proceedings) against the distributions and evolution
of GRB spectral parameters (particularly the low energy index, ). With
knowledge of the distribution and the correlation between and
presented in Part I, we show how to derive the expected distribution of
from fits to optically thin synchrotron spectra, and compare this with
the observed distribution. We show that there is no difficulty explaining
bursts below the ``line of death'', , and that these bursts
indicate that the spectrum of accelerated electrons must flatten or decline at
low energies. Bursts with low energy spectral indices that fall above this
limit are explained by the synchrotron self-absorption frequency entering the
lower end of the BATSE window. Finally, we discuss a variety of spectral
evolution behavior seen in GRBs and explain this behavior in the context of
synchrotron emission from internal shocks.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 5th Huntsville Symposium on Gamma
Ray Burst
Improved Limits on Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter using Full-Sky Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor Data
A sterile neutrino of ~keV mass is a well motivated dark matter candidate.
Its decay generates an X-ray line that offers a unique target for X-ray
telescopes. For the first time, we use the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM)
onboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope to search for sterile neutrino
decay lines; our analysis covers the energy range 10-25 keV (sterile neutrino
mass 20-50 keV), which is inaccessible to X-ray and gamma-ray satellites such
as Chandra, Suzaku, XMM-Newton, and INTEGRAL. The extremely wide field of view
of the GBM enables a large fraction of the Milky Way dark matter halo to be
probed. After implementing careful data cuts, we obtain ~53 days of full sky
observational data. We observe an excess of photons towards the Galactic
Center, as expected from astrophysical emission. We search for sterile neutrino
decay lines in the energy spectrum, and find no significant signal. From this,
we obtain upper limits on the sterile neutrino mixing angle as a function of
mass. In the sterile neutrino mass range 25-40 keV, we improve upon previous
upper limits by approximately an order of magnitude. Better understanding of
detector and astrophysical backgrounds, as well as detector response, will
further improve the sensitivity of a search with the GBM.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, references added, discussion expanded, some
typos fixed, matches the published versio
Testing the Gamma-Ray Burst Energy Relationships
Building on Nakar & Piran's analysis of the Amati relation relating gamma-ray
burst peak energies E_p and isotropic energies E_iso, we test the consistency
of a large sample of BATSE bursts with the Amati and Ghirlanda (which relates
peak energies and actual gamma-ray energies E_gamma) relations. Each of these
relations can be expressed as a ratio of the different energies that is a
function of redshift (for both the Amati and Ghirlanda relations) and beaming
fraction f_B (for the Ghirlanda relation). The most rigorous test, which allows
bursts to be at any redshift, corroborates Nakar & Piran's result--88% of the
BATSE bursts are inconsistent with the Amati relation--while only 1.6% of the
bursts are inconsistent with the Ghirlanda relation if f_B=1. Even when we
allow for a real dispersion in the Amati relation we find an inconsistency.
Modelling the redshift distribution results in an energy ratio distribution for
the Amati relation that is shifted by an order of magnitude relative to the
observed distribution; any sub-population satisfying the Amati relation can
comprise at most ~18% of our burst sample. A similar analysis of the Ghirlanda
relation depends sensitively on the beaming fraction distribution for small
values of f_B; for reasonable estimates of this distribution about a third of
the burst sample is inconsistent with the Ghirlanda relation. Our results
indicate that these relations are an artifact of the selection effects of the
burst sample in which they were found; these selection effects may favor
sub-populations for which these relations are valid.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures. To appear in ApJ, 627, #2 (10 July 2005
The sharpness of gamma-ray burst prompt emission spectra
We aim to obtain a measure of the curvature of time-resolved spectra that can
be compared directly to theory. This tests the ability of models such as
synchrotron emission to explain the peaks or breaks of GBM prompt emission
spectra. We take the burst sample from the official Fermi GBM GRB time-resolved
spectral catalog. We re-fit all spectra with a measured peak or break energy in
the catalog best-fit models in various energy ranges, which cover the curvature
around the spectral peak or break, resulting in a total of 1,113 spectra being
analysed. We compute the sharpness angles under the peak or break of the
triangle constructed under the model fit curves and compare to the values
obtained from various representative emission models: blackbody,
single-electron synchrotron, synchrotron emission from a Maxwellian or
power-law electron distribution. We find that 35% of the time-resolved spectra
are inconsistent with the single-electron synchrotron function, and 91% are
inconsistent with the Maxwellian synchrotron function. The single temperature,
single emission time and location blackbody function is found to be sharper
than all the spectra. No general evolutionary trend of the sharpness angle is
observed, neither per burst nor for the whole population. It is found that the
limiting case, a single temperature Maxwellian synchrotron function, can only
contribute up to % of the peak flux. Our results show that even
the sharpest but non-realistic case, the single-electron synchrotron function,
cannot explain a large fraction of the observed GRB prompt spectra. Because of
the fact that any combination of physically possible synchrotron spectra added
together will always further broaden the spectrum, emission mechanisms other
than optically thin synchrotron radiation are likely required in a full
explanation of the spectral peaks or breaks of the GRB prompt emission phase.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in A&
A New Discriminator for Gamma-Ray Burst Classification: The Epeak-Fluence Energy Ratio
Using the derived gamma-ray burst E_peak and fluences from the complete BATSE
5B Spectral Catalog, we study the ensemble characteristics of the
E_peak-fluence relation for GRBs. This relation appears to be a physically
meaningful and insightful fundamental discriminator between long and short
bursts. We discuss the results of the lower limit test of the E_peak-E_iso
relations in the E_peak-fluence plane for BATSE bursts with no observed
redshift. Our results confirm the presence of two GRB classes as well as
heavily suggesting two different GRB progenitor types.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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