1,537 research outputs found
Broad band time-resolved E_{p,i}--L_{iso} correlation in GRBs
We report results of a systematic study of the broad band (2--2000 keV) time
resolved prompt emission spectra of a sample of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)
detected with both Wide Field Cameras on board the \sax\ satellite and the
\batse\ experiment on board CGRO. In this first paper, we study the
time-resolved dependence of the intrinsic peak energy of the
spectrum on the corresponding isotropic bolometric luminosity .
The -- relation or the equivalent relation between
and the bolometric released energy , derived using the time
averaged spectra of long GRBs with known redshift, is well established, but its
physical origin is still a subject of discussion. In addition, some authors
maintain that these relations are the result of instrumental selection effects.
We find that not only a relation between the measured peak energy and the
corresponding energy flux, but also a strong versus
correlation are found within each burst and merging together the time resolved
data points from different GRBs. We do not expect significant instrumental
selection effects that can affect the obtained results, apart from the fact
that the GRBs in our sample are sufficiently bright to perform a time-resolved
spectroscopy and that they have known redshift. If the fundamental physical
process that gives rise to the GRB phenomenon does not depend on its
brightness, we conclude that the found versus
correlation within each GRB is intrinsic to the emission process, and that the
correlations discovered by Amati et al. and Yonetoku et al. are likely not the
result of selection effects. We also discuss the properties of the correlations
found.Comment: 27 pages,4 tables, 7 figure, accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journa
A search for pulsations in short gamma-ray bursts to constrain their progenitors
We searched for periodic and quasiperiodic signal in the prompt emission of a
sample of 44 bright short gamma-ray bursts detected with Fermi/GBM, Swift/BAT,
and CGRO/BATSE. The aim was to look for the observational signature of
quasiperiodic jet precession which is expected from black hole-neutron star
mergers, but not from double neutron star systems. Thus, this kind of search
holds the key to identify the progenitor systems of short GRBs and, in the wait
for gravitational wave detection, represents the only direct way to constrain
the progenitors. We tailored our search to the nature of the expected signal by
properly stretching the observed light curves by an increasing factor with
time, after calibrating the technique on synthetic curves. In none of the GRBs
of our sample we found evidence for periodic or quasiperiodic signals. In
particular, for the 7 unambiguously short GRBs with best S/N we obtained
significant upper limits to the amplitude of the possible oscillations. This
result suggests that BH-NS systems do not dominate the population of short GRB
progenitors as described by the kinematic model of Stone, Loeb, & Berger
(2013).Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted to ApJ, added reference
Average power density spectrum of long GRBs detected with BeppoSAX/GRBM and with Fermi/GBM
From past experiments the average power density spectrum (PDS) of GRBs with
unknown redshift was found to be modelled from 0.01 to 1 Hz with a power-law,
f^(-alpha), with alpha broadly consistent with 5/3. Recent analyses of the
Swift/BAT catalogue showed analogous results in the 15-150 keV band. We carried
out the same analysis on the bright GRBs detected by BeppoSAX/GRBM and
Fermi/GBM. The BeppoSAX/GRBM data, in the energy range 40-700 keV and with 7.8
and 0.5-ms time resolutions, allowed us to explore for the first time the
average PDS at very high frequencies (up to 1 kHz) and reveal a break around
1-2 Hz, previously found in CGRO/BATSE data. The Fermi/GBM data, in the energy
band 8-1000 keV, allowed us to explore for the first time the average PDS
within a broad energy range. Our results confirm and extend the energy
dependence of the PDS slope, according to which harder photons have shallower
PDS.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted to MNRA
Numerical study of the random field Ising model at zero and positive temperature
In this paper the three dimensional random field Ising model is studied at
both zero temperature and positive temperature. Critical exponents are
extracted at zero temperature by finite size scaling analysis of large
discontinuities in the bond energy. The heat capacity exponent is
found to be near zero. The ground states are determined for a range of external
field and disorder strength near the zero temperature critical point and the
scaling of ground state tilings of the field-disorder plane is discussed. At
positive temperature the specific heat and the susceptibility are obtained
using the Wang-Landau algorithm. It is found that sharp peaks are present in
these physical quantities for some realizations of systems sized and
larger. These sharp peaks result from flipping large domains and correspond to
large discontinuities in ground state bond energies. Finally, zero temperature
and positive temperature spin configurations near the critical line are found
to be highly correlated suggesting a strong version of the zero temperature
fixed point hypothesis.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure
A common stochastic process rules gamma-ray burst prompt emission and X-ray flares
Prompt gamma-ray and early X-ray afterglow emission in gamma-ray bursts
(GRBs) are characterized by a bursty behavior and are often interspersed with
long quiescent times. There is compelling evidence that X-ray flares are linked
to prompt gamma-rays. However, the physical mechanism that leads to the complex
temporal distribution of gamma-ray pulses and X-ray flares is not understood.
Here we show that the waiting time distribution (WTD) of pulses and flares
exhibits a power-law tail extending over 4 decades with index ~2 and can be the
manifestation of a common time-dependent Poisson process. This result is robust
and is obtained on different catalogs. Surprisingly, GRBs with many (>=8)
gamma-ray pulses are very unlikely to be accompanied by X-ray flares after the
end of the prompt emission (3.1 sigma Gaussian confidence). These results are
consistent with a simple interpretation: an hyperaccreting disk breaks up into
one or a few groups of fragments, each of which is independently accreted with
the same probability per unit time. Prompt gamma-rays and late X-ray flares are
nothing but different fragments being accreted at the beginning and at the end,
respectively, following the very same stochastic process and likely the same
mechanism.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted by Ap
SN/GRB connection: a statistical approach with BATSE and Asiago Catalogues
Recent observations suggest that some types of GRB are physically connected
with SNe of type Ib/c. However, it has been pointed out by several authors that
some GRBs could be associated also with other types of core-collapse SNe (type
IIdw/IIn). On the basis of a comphrensive statistical study, which has made use
of the BATSE and Asiago catalogues, we have found that: i) the temporal and
spacial distribution of SNe-Ib/c is marginally correlated with that of the
BATSE GRBs; ii) we do not confirm the existence of an association between GRBs
and SNe-IIdw/IIn.Comment: Proceeding of the 4th workshop on Gamma Ray Bursts in the Afterglow
Era, Rome, 2004; 4 page
A Robust Filter for the BeppoSAX Gamma Ray Burst Monitor Triggers
The BeppoSAX Gamma Ray Burst Monitor (GRBM) is triggered any time a
statistically significant counting excess is simultaneously revealed by at
least two of its four independent detectors. Several spurious effects,
including highly ionizing particles crossing two detectors, are recorded as
onboard triggers. In fact, a large number of false triggers is detected, in the
order of 10/day. A software code, based on an heuristic algorithm, was written
to discriminate between real and false triggers. We present the results of the
analysis on an homogeneous sample of GRBM triggers, thus providing an estimate
of the efficiency of the GRB detection system consisting of the GRBM and the
software.Comment: Proc. 5th Huntsville GRB Symposiu
The GRB Variability/Peak Luminosity Correlation: new results
We report test results of the correlation between time variability and peak
luminosity of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), using a larger sample (32) of GRBs with
known redshift than that available to Reichart et al. (2001), and using as
variability measure that introduced by these authors. The results are puzzling.
Assuming an isotropic-equivalent peak luminosity, as done by Reichart et al.
(2001), a correlation is still found, but it is less relevant, and inconsistent
with a power law as previously reported. Assuming as peak luminosity that
corrected for GRB beaming for a subset of 16 GRBs with known beaming angle, the
correlation becomes little less significant.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, MNRAS, accepte
Probing phase coexistence and stabilization of the spin-ordered ferrimagnetic state by Calcium addition in the YBa_{1-x}Ca_{x}Co_{2}O_{5.5} layered cobaltites using neutron diffraction
In this article we study the effects of a partial substitution of Ba with the
smaller cation Ca in the layered cobaltites YBaCo_2O_{5+\delta} for \delta
\approx 0.5. Neutron thermodiffractograms are reported for the compounds
YBa_{0.95}Ca_{0.05}Co_2O_{5.5} (x_{Ca}=0.05) and YBa_{0.90}Ca_{0.10}Co_2O_{5.5}
(x_{Ca}=0.10) in the temperature range 20 K \leq T \leq 300 K, as well as high
resolution neutron diffraction experiments at selected temperatures for the
samples x_{Ca}=0.05, x_{Ca}=0.10 and the parent compound x_{Ca}=0. We have
found the magnetic properties to be strongly affected by the cationic
substitution. Although the "122" perovskite structure seems unaffected by Ca
addition, the magnetic arrangements of Co ions are drastically modified: the
antiferromagnetic (AFM) long-range order is destroyed, and a ferrimagnetic
phase with spin state order is stabilized below T \sim 290 K. For the sample
with x_{Ca}=0.05 a fraction of AFM phase coexists with the ferrimagnetic one
below T \sim 190 K, whereas for x_{Ca}=0.10 the AFM order is completely lost.
The systematic refinement of the whole series has allowed for a better
understanding of the observed low-temperature diffraction patterns of the
parent compound, YBaCo_2O_{5.5}, which had not yet been clarified. A two-phase
scenario is proposed for the x_{Ca}=0 compound which is compatible with the
phase coexistence observed in the x_{Ca}=0.05 sample
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