25 research outputs found
Statistical Evidence for Three classes of Gamma-ray Bursts
Two different multivariate clustering techniques, the K-means partitioning
method and the Dirichlet process of mixture modeling, have been applied to the
BATSE Gamma-ray burst (GRB) catalog, to obtain the optimum number of coherent
groups. In the standard paradigm, GRB are classified in only two groups, the
long and short bursts. However, for both the clustering techniques, the optimal
number of classes was found to be three, a result which is consistent with
previous statistical analysis. In this classification, the long bursts are
further divided into two groups which are primarily differentiated by their
total fluence and duration and hence are named low and high fluence GRB.
Analysis of GRB with known red-shifts and spectral parameters suggests that low
fluence GRB have nearly constant isotropic energy output of 10^{52} ergs while
for the high fluence ones, the energy output ranges from 10^{52} to 10^{54}
ergs. It is speculated that the three kinds of GRBs reflect three different
origins: mergers of neutron star systems, mergers between white dwarfs and
neutron stars, and collapse of massive stars.Comment: 7 pages, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Minor
editorial change