MAXI observations of gamma-ray bursts

Abstract

Abstract The Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) Gas Slit Camera (GSC) detects gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), including bursts with soft spectra, such as X-ray flashes (XRFs). MAXI/GSC is sensitive to the energy range from 2 to 30 keV. This energy range is lower than other currently operating instruments which are capable of detecting GRBs. Since the beginning of the MAXI operation on 2009 August 15, GSC observed 35 GRBs up to the middle of 2013. One third of them were also observed by other satellites. The rest of them show a trend to have soft spectra and low fluxes. Because of the contribution of those XRFs, the MAXI GRB rate is about three times higher than those expected from the BATSE log N–log P distribution. When we compare it to the observational results of the Wide-field X-ray Monitor on the High Energy Transient Explorer 2, which covers the the same energy range as that of MAXI/GSC, we find the possibility that many of the MAXI bursts are XRFs with Epeak lower than 20 keV. We discuss the source of soft GRBs observed only by MAXI. The MAXI log N–log S distribution suggests that the MAXI XRFs are distributed over a closer distance than hard GRBs. Since the distributions of the hardness of galactic stellar flares and X-ray bursts overlap with those of MAXI GRBs, we discuss the possibility of confusion of such galactic transients with the MAXI GRB samples.