Correlation between the peak spectral energy of gamma-ray bursts and the peak luminosity of the underlying supernovae: implication for the nature of the gamma-ray burst-supernova connection

Abstract

In this paper, we present a correlation between the peak spectral energy of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and the peak bolometric luminosity of the underlying supernovae (SNe), based on a sample of four pairs of GRBs‐SNe with a spectroscopically confirmed connection. Combining it with the well-known relation between the peak spectral energy and the isotropic equivalent energy of GRBs, we obtain an upper limit on the isotropic energy of GRBs, which is ≈ 10 52 erg(L SN,peak/10 43 erg s −1 ) 10 , where LSN,peak is the peak bolometric luminosity of the SNe. Our results suggest that the critical parameter determining the GRB‐SN connection is the peak luminosity of SNe, rather than the feature of the SN spectra and/or the SN explosion energy as commonly hypothesized. Because it is generally believed that the peak luminosity of SNe powered by radioactive decays is related to the amount of 56 Ni produced in the SN explosion, the mass of 56 Ni may be a key physical factor for understanding the nature of GRBs and their connection with SNe. Application of our relation to Type Ibc SNe with normal peak luminosities indicates that, if those normal SNe have GRBs accompanying them, the GRBs would be extremely soft and subenergetic in gamma-rays and, hence, easier to detect with X-ray or UV detectors than with gamma-ray detectors.