Pulses, spectral lags, durations, and hardness ratios in long GRBs

Abstract

We analyze BATSE 64-ms data for long gamma-ray bursts (T90 > 2.6 s), exploring the relationships between spectral lag, duration, and the number of distinct pulses per burst, Npulses. We measure durations using a brightness-independent technique. Within a similarly brightness-independent framework, we use a Bayesian Block method to find significant valleys and peaks, and thereby identify distinct pulses in bursts. Our results show that, across large dynamic ranges in peak flux and the Npulses measure, bursts have short lags and narrow pulses, while bursts with long lags tend to have just a few significant, wide pulses. There is a tendency for harder bursts to have few pulses, and these hardest bursts have short lags. Spectral lag and duration appear to be nearly independent - even for those bursts with relatively long lags: wider pulses tend to make up in duration for fewer pulses. Our brightness-independent analysis adds to the nascent picture of an intimate connection between pulse width, spectral lag, and peak luminosity for bursts with known redshifts: We infer that lower-luminosity bursts should have fewer episodes of organized emission - wider pulses with longer spectral lags.