On binary driven hypernovae and their nested late X-ray emission

Abstract

The induced gravitational collapse (IGC) paradigm addresses energetic (1052-1054 erg), long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) associated to supernovae (SNe) and proposes as their progenitors tight binary systems composed of an evolved FeCO core and a companion neutron star (NS). Their emission is characterized by four specific episodes: Episode 1, corresponding to the on-set of the FeCO SN explosion and the accretion of the ejecta onto the companion NS; Episode 2, related the collapse of the companionNS to a black hole (BH) and to the emission of a long GRB; Episode 3, observed in X-rays and characterized by a steep decay, a plateau phase and a late power-law decay; Episode 4, corresponding to the optical SN emission due to the 56Ni decay. We focus on Episode 3 and we show that, from the thermal component observed during the steep decay of the prototype GRB 090618, the emission region has a typical dimension of ~1013 cm, which is inconsistent with the typical size of the emitting region of GRBs, e.g., ~1016 cm. We propose, therefore, that the X-ray afterglow emission originates from a spherically symmetric SN ejecta expanding at G ˜ 2 or, possibly, from the accretion onto the newly formed black hole, and we name these systems “binary driven hypernovae” (BdHNe). This interpretation is alternative to the traditional afterglow model based on the GRB synchrotron emission from a collimated jet outflow, expanding at ultra-relativistic Lorentz factor of G ~ 102-103 and originating from the collapse of a single object. We show then that the rest-frame energy band 0.3-10 keV X-ray luminosities of three selected BdHNe, GRB 060729, GRB 061121, and GRB 130427A, evidence a precisely constrained “nested” structure and satisfy precise scaling laws between the average prompt luminosity, 〈Liso〉, and the luminosity at the end of the plateau, La, as functions of the time at the end of the plateau. All these features extend the applicability of the “cosmic candle” nature of Episode 3. The relevance of r-process in fulfilling the demanding scaling laws and the nested structure are indicated.