Cumulative light curves of gamma-ray bursts and relaxation systems

The cumulative light curves of a large sample of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) were obtained by summing the BATSE counts. The smoothed profiles are much simpler than the complex and erratic running light curves that are normally used. For most GRBs the slope of the cumulative light curve (S) is approximately constant over a large fraction of the burst. The bursts are modelled as relaxation systems that continuously accumulate energy in the reservoir and discontinuously release it. The slope is a measure of the cumulative power output of the central engine. A plot of S versus peak flux in 64ms (P64ms) shows a very good correlation over a wide range for both short and long GRBs. No relationship was found between S and GRBs with known redshift. The standard slope (S'), which is representative of the power output per unit time, is correlated separately with P64ms for both sub-classes indicating more powerful outbursts for the short GRBs. S' is also anticorrelated with GRB duration. These results imply that GRBs are powered by accretion into a black hole.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letter

Temporal properties of short and long gamma-ray bursts

A temporal analysis was performed on a sample of 100 bright short GRBs with T90 < 2s from the BATSE Current Catalog along with a similar analysis on 319 long bright GRBs with T90 > 2s from the same catalog. The short GRBs were denoised using a median filter and the long GRBs were denoised using a wavelet method. Both samples were subjected to an automated pulse selection algorithm to objectively determine the effects of neighbouring pulses. The rise times, fall times, FWHM, pulse amplitudes and areas were measured and their frequency distributions are presented. The time intervals between pulses were also measured. The frequency distributions of the pulse properties were found to be similar and consistent with lognormal distributions for both the short and long GRBs. The time intervals between the pulses and the pulse amplitudes of neighbouring pulses were found to be correlated with each other. The same emission mechanism can account for the two sub-classes of GRBs.Comment: 3 pages, 8 figures; Proceedings of "Gamma-Ray Burst and Afterglow Astronomy 2001", Woods Hol

A Radiation Hardened by Design CMOS ASIC for Thermopile Readouts

A radiation hardened by design (RHBD) mixed-signal application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) has been designed for a thermopile readout for operation in the harsh Jovian orbital environment. The multi-channel digitizer (MCD) ASIC includes 18 low noise amplifier channels which have tunable gain/filtering coefficients, a 16-bit sigma-delta analog-digital converter (SDADC) and an on-chip controller. The 18 channels, SDADC and controller were designed to operate with immunity to single event latchup (SEL) and to at least 10 Mrad total ionizing dose (TID). The ASIC also contains a radiation tolerant 16-bit 20 MHz Nyquist ADC for general purpose instrumentation digitizer needs. The ASIC is currently undergoing fabrication in a commercial 180 nm CMOS process. Although this ASIC was designed specifically for the harsh radiation environment of the NASA led JEO mission it is suitable for integration into instrumentation payloads 011 the ESA JUICE mission where the radiation hardness requirements are slightly less stringent

Timing diagrams and correlations in gamma-ray bursts signal jets from accretion into black holes

The temporal properties of a sample of 498 bright gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with durations between 0.05 s and 674 s were analysed. The large range in duration (T90) is accompanied by a similarly large range in the median values of the pulse timing properties including rise time, fall time, FWHM and separation between the pulses. Four timing diagrams relating these pulse properties to T90 are presented and show the power law relationships between the median values of the 4 pulse timing properties and T90, but also that the power laws depend in a consistent manner on the number of pulses per GRB. The timing diagrams are caused by the correlated properties of the pulses in the burst and can be explained by a combination of factors including the Doppler boost factor Gamma, a viewing effect caused by a jet and different progenitors. GRBs with similar values of T90 have a wide range in the number of pulses. GRBs with the large number of short and spectrally hard pulses may occur either from a homogeneous jet with a higher average value of Gamma or close to the axis of an inhomogeneous jet with higher values of Gamma near the rotation axis. The less luminous GRBs with fewer pulses may originate further from the axis of the inhomogeneous jet. The pulses in GRBs have six distinctive statistical properties including correlations between time intervals, correlations between pulse amplitudes, an anticorrelation between pulse amplitudes and time intervals, and a link to intermittency in GRS 1915+105. The timing diagrams and correlated pulses suggest that GRBs are powered by accretion processes signalling jets from the formation of black holes.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Temporal properties of the short gamma-ray bursts

A temporal analysis has been performed on a sample of 100 bright gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with T90<2s from the BATSE current catalog. The GRBs were denoised using a median filter and subjected to an automated pulse selection algorithm as an objective way of idenitifing the effects of neighbouring pulses. The rise times, fall times, FWHM, pulse amplitudes and areas were measured and the frequency distributions are presented here. All are consistent with lognormal distributions. The distribution of the time intervals between pulses is not random but consistent with a lognormal distribution. The time intervals between pulses and pulse amplitudes are highly correlated with each other. These results are in excellent agreement with a similar analysis that revealed lognormal distributions for pulse properties and correlated time intervals between pulses in bright GRBs with T90>2s. The two sub-classes of GRBs appear to have the same emission mechanism which is probably caused by internal shocks. They may not have the same progenitors because of the generic nature of the fireball model.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure

Thermal Radiometer Signal Processing Using Radiation Hard CMOS Application Specific Integrated Circuits for Use in Harsh Planetary Environments

Thermal radiometers such as proposed for the Europa Clipper flyby mission require low noise signal processing for thermal imaging with immunity to Total Ionizing Dose (TID) and Single Event Latchup (SEL). Described is a second generation Multi- Channel Digitizer (MCD2G) Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) that accurately digitizes up to 40 thermopile pixels with greater than 50 Mrad (Si) immunity TID and 174 MeV-sq cm/mg SEL. The MCD2G ASIC uses Radiation Hardened By Design (RHBD) techniques with a 180 nm CMOS process node

A Radiation Hard Multi-Channel Digitizer ASIC for Operation in the Harsh Jovian Environment

In 1995, the Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter to conduct follow-up experiments on pathfinder Pioneer and key Voyager discoveries especially at Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. These new observations helped expand our scientific knowledge of the prominent Galilean satellites; studies revealed diversity with respect to their geology, internal structure, evolution and degree of past and present activity. Jupiter's diverse Galilean satellites, of which three are believed to harbor internal oceans, are central to understanding the habitability of icy worlds. Galileo provided for the first time compelling evidence of a near-surface global ocean on Europa. Furthermore, by understanding the Jupiter system and unraveling the history of its evolution from initial formation to the emergence of possible habitats and life, gives insight into how giant planets and their satellite systems form and evolve. Most important, new light is shed on the potential for the emergence and existence of life in icy satellite oceans. In 2009, NASA released a detailed Jupiter Europa Mission Study (EJSM) that proposed an ambitious Flagship Mission to understand more fully the satellites Europa and Ganymede within the context of the Jovian system. Key to EJSM is the NASA led Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO) and the ESA led Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter (JGO). JEO and JGO would execute a choreographed exploration of the Jovian system before settling into orbit around Europa and Ganymede, respectively. The National Academies Planetary Decadal Survey, 2011 has listed the NASA-led JEO as the second highest priority mission for the decade 2013-2022, and if chosen it would be launched in 2020 with arrival at Jupiter in 2025. If the JEO mission is not chosen it is anticipated that there will be opportunities in future decadal cycles. Jupiter Orbit Insertion (JOI) begins a 30-month Jovian system tour followed by nine months of science mapping after Europa Orbit Insertion (EOI) in July 2028. The orbiter will ultimately impact the surface of Europa after the mission is completed. The current JEO mission concept includes a range of instruments on the payload, to monitor dynamic phenomena (such as Io's volcanoes and Jupiters atmosphere), map the Jovian magnetosphere and its interactions with the Galilean satellites, and characterize water oceans beneath the ice shells of Europa and Ganymede. The payload includes a low mass (3.7 Kg) and low power (< 5 W) Thermal Instrument (TI) concept for measuring possible warm thermal anomalies on Europa s cold surface caused by recent (< 10,000 years) eruptive activity. Regions of anomalously high heat flow will be identified by thermal mapping using a nadir pointing, push-broom filter radiometer that provides far-IR imagery in two broad band spectral wavelength regions, 8-20 m and 20-100 m, for surface temperature measurements with better than a 2 K accuracy and a spatial resolution of 250 m/pixel obtained from a 100 Km orbit. The temperature accuracy permits a search for elevated temperatures when combined with albedo information. The spatial resolution is sufficient to resolve Europa's larger cracks and ridge axial valleys. In order to accomplish the thermal mapping, the TI uses sensitive thermopile arrays that are readout by a custom designed low-noise Multi-Channel Digitizer (MCD) ASIC that resides very close to the thermopile linear array outputs. Both the thermopile array and the MCD ASIC will need to show full functionality within the harsh Jovian radiation environment, operating at cryogenic temperatures, typically 150 K to 170 K. In the following, a radiation mitigation strategy together with a low risk Radiation-Hardened-By-Design (RHBD) methodology using commercial foundry processes is given for the design and manufacture of a MCD ASIC that will meet this challenge

Temporal properties of gamma-ray bursts as signatures of jets from the central engine

A comprehensive temporal analysis has been performed on the 319 brightest GRBs with T90>2s from the BATSE current catalog. The rise times, fall times, full-widths at half maximum (FWHM), pulse amplitudes and pulse areas were measured and the frequency distributions are presented here. The distribution of time intervals between pulses is not random but compatible with a lognormal distribution when allowance was made for the 64 ms time resolution and a small excess (5%) of long duration intervals that is often referred to as a Pareto-Levy tail. A range of correlations are presented on pulse and burst properties. The rise and fall times, FWHM and area of the pulses are highly correlated with each other. The time intervals between pulses and pulse amplitudes of neighbouring pulses are correlated with each other. It was also found that the number of pulses, N, in GRBs is strongly correlated with the fluence and the duration and that can explain the well known correlation between duration and fluence. The GRBs were sorted into three catagories based on N i.e. 3=25. The properties of pulses before and after the stongest pulse were compared for the three catagories of bursts. This analysis revealed that the GRBs with large numbers of pulses have narrower and faster pulses and also larger fluences, longer durations and higher hardness ratios than the GRBs with smaller numbers of pulses.Comment: 19 pages, 22 figures. Submitted to A&A July 200

The Minimum Variability Time Scale and its Relation to Pulse Profiles of Fermi GRBs

We present a direct link between the minimum variability time scales extracted through a wavelet decomposition and the rise times of the shortest pulses extracted via fits of 34 Fermi GBM GRB light curves comprised of 379 pulses. Pulses used in this study were fitted with log-normal functions whereas the wavelet technique used employs a multiresolution analysis that does not rely on identifying distinct pulses. By applying a corrective filter to published data fitted with pulses we demonstrate agreement between these two independent techniques and offer a method for distinguishing signal from noise.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. 4 pages, 4 figure

Kerr black holes and time profiles of gamma-ray bursts

The cumulative light curves of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) smooth the spiky nature of the running light curve. The cumulative count increases in an approximately linear way with time t for most bursts. In 19 out of 398 GRBs with T90 > 2s, the cumulative light curve was found to increase with time as \~t^2 implying a linear increase in the running light curve. The non-linear sections last for a substantial fraction of the GRB duration, have a large proportion of the cumulative count and many resolved pulses that usually end with the highest pulse in the burst. The reverse behaviour was found in 11 GRBs where the running light curve decreased with time and some bursts are good mirror images of the increases. These GRBs are among the spectrally hardest bursts observed by BATSE. The most likely interpretation is that these effects are signatures of black holes that are either being spun up or down in the accretion process. In the spin up case, the increasing Kerr parameter of the black hole allows additional rotational and accretion energy to become available for extraction. The process is reversed if the black hole is spun down by magnetic field torques. The luminosity changes in GRBs are consistent with the predictions of the BZ process and neutrino annihilation and thus provide the link to spinning black holes. GRBs provide a new window for studying the general relativistic effects of Kerr black holes.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letter