Gamma-ray Bursts 080319B Research Articles

Possible GeV counterpart at the ground level associated with Fermi LAT gamma-ray bursts

From June 2014 to February 2017, the Fermi LAT detected 46 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with photon energies above 20 MeV, and the trigger coordinates of seven of them were within the FoV of New-Tupi detector located in the central region of the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA).We show in this paper that two of these seven GRBs have a probable GeV counterpart observed at ground level by New-Tupi detector. The first is GRB 160609A, a short duration GRB with a bright emission of photons over a broad energy range extending up to GeV energies. The second is GRB 160625B, a very long duration GRB, for which the Fermi LAT detected more than 300 photons with energies above 100 MeV in the ∼1 ks interval after the GBM trigger. In the first case, the signal at New-Tupi has a nominal significance of 3.5σ in the counting rate time profiles, within the T90(=5.6 s) duration on Fermi GBM. However, the effective significance is only 3.0σ. In the second case, New-Tupi detector registered at least two excess (peaks) with a nominal statistical significance of 4.8σ and 5.0σ at 438 s and 558 s after the trigger. The first is within the T90(=460 s) on Fermi GBM. Even so, the effective significance is only ∼2.0σ. In addition, from a Monte Carlo analysis, we show that the expected signal-to-noise ratio is compatible with the observation of GRB 160709A, only if the differential index of the GRB energy spectrum be equal or higher than −2.2 (a non-steep spectrum).

The Origin of the Optical Flashes: The Case Study of GRB 080319B and GRB 130427A

Abstract Correlations between optical flashes and gamma-ray emissions in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been searched in order to clarify the question of whether these emissions occur at internal and/or external shocks. Among the most powerful GRBs ever recorded are GRB 080319B and GRB 130427A, which at early phases presented bright optical flashes possibly correlated with γ-ray components. Additionally, both bursts were fortuitously located within the field of view of the TeV γ-ray Milagro and HAWC observatories, and although no statistically significant excess of counts were collected, upper limits were placed on the GeV–TeV emission. Considering the synchrotron self-Compton emission from internal shocks and requiring the GeV–TeV upper limits, we found that the optical flashes and the γ-ray components are produced by different electron populations. Analyzing the optical flashes together with the multiwavelength afterglow observation, we found that these flashes can be interpreted in the framework of the synchrotron reverse shock model when outflows have arbitrary magnetizations.

External Shock in a Multi-bursting Gamma-Ray Burst: Energy Injection Phase Induced by the Later Launched Ejecta

Abstract Central engines of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) may be intermittent and launch several episodes of ejecta separated by a long quiescent interval. In this scenario, an external shock is formed due to the propagation of the first launched ejecta into the circum-burst medium and the later launched ejecta may interact with the external shock at a later period. Owing to the internal dissipation, the later launched ejecta may be observed at a later time (t jet). In this paper, we study the relation of t b and t jet, where t b is the collision time of the later launched ejecta with the formed external shock. It is found that the relation of t b and t jet depends on the bulk Lorentz factor (Γjet) of the later launched ejecta and the density (ρ) of the circum-burst medium. If the value of Γjet or ρ is low, the t b would be significantly larger than t jet. However, the t b ∼ t jet can be found if the value of Γjet or ρ is significantly large. Our results can explain the large lag of the optical emission relative to the γ-ray/X-ray emission in GRBs, e.g., GRB 111209A. For GRBs with a precursor, our results suggest that the energy injection into the external shock and thus more than one external-reverse shock may appear in the main prompt emission phase. According to our model, we estimate the Lorentz factor of the second launched ejecta in GRB 160625B.

GRB 111005A at z = 0.0133 and the Prospect of Establishing Long–Short GRB/GW Association

GRB 111005A, one long duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) occurred within a metal-rich environment that lacks massive stars with $M_{\rm ZAMS}\geq 15M_\odot$, is not coincident with supernova emission down to stringent limit and thus should be classified as a "long-short" GRB (lsGRB; also known as SN-less long GRB or hybrid GRB), like GRB 060505 and GRB 060614. In this work we show that in the neutron star merger model, the non-detection of the optical/infrared emission of GRB 111005A requires a sub-relativistic neutron-rich ejecta with the mass of $\leq 0.01~M_\odot$, (significantly) less massive than that of GRB 130603B, GRB 060614 and GRB 050709. The lsGRBs are found to have a high rate density and the neutron star merger origin model can be unambiguously tested by the joint observations of the second generation gravitational wave (GW) detectors and the full-sky gamma-ray monitors such as Fermi-GBM and the proposing GECAM. If no lsGRB/GW association is observed in 2020s, alternative scenarios have to be systematically investigated. With the detailed environmental information achievable for the very-nearby events, a novel kind of merger or explosion origin may be identified.

Bimodal Long-lasting Components in Short Gamma-Ray Bursts: Promising Electromagnetic Counterparts to Neutron Star Binary Mergers

Abstract Long-lasting emission of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is crucial to reveal the physical origin of the central engine as well as to detect electromagnetic (EM) counterparts to gravitational waves (GWs) from neutron star binary mergers. We investigate 65 X-ray light curves of short GRBs, which is six times more than previous studies, by combining both Swift/BAT and XRT data. The light curves are found to consist of two distinct components at >5σ with bimodal distributions of luminosity and duration, i.e., extended (with a timescale of ≲103 s) and plateau emission (with a timescale of ≳103 s), which are likely the central engine activities, but not afterglows. The extended emission has an isotropic energy comparable to the prompt emission, while the plateau emission has ∼0.01–1 times this energy. Half (50%) of our sample has both components, while the other half is consistent with having both components. This leads us to conjecture that almost all short GRBs have both the extended and plateau emission. The long-lasting emission can be explained by the jets from black holes with fallback ejecta, and could power macronovae (or kilonovae) like GRB 130603B and GRB 160821B. Based on the observed properties, we quantify the detectability of EM counterparts to GWs, including the plateau emission scattered to the off-axis angle, with CALET/HXM, INTEGRAL/SPI-ACS, Fermi/GBM, MAXI/GSC, Swift/BAT, XRT, the future ISS-Lobster/WFI, Einstein Probe/WXT, and eROSITA.

Search for Gamma-Ray Bursts with the ARGO-YBJ Detector in Shower Mode

Abstract The ARGO-YBJ detector, located at the Yangbajing Cosmic Ray Laboratory (4300 m a. s. l., Tibet, China), was a “full coverage” (central carpet with an active area of ∼93%) air shower array dedicated to gamma-ray astronomy and cosmic-ray studies. The wide field of view (∼2 sr) and high duty cycle (>86%), made ARGO-YBJ suitable to search for short and unexpected gamma-ray emissions like gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Between 2007 November 6 and 2013 February 7, 156 satellite-triggered GRBs (24 of them with known redshift) occurred within the ARGO-YBJ field of view (zenith angle θ ≤ 45°). A search for possible emission associated with these GRBs has been made in the two energy ranges 10–100 GeV and 10–1000 GeV. No significant excess has been found in time coincidence with the satellite detections nor in a set of different time windows inside the interval of one hour after the bursts. Taking into account the EBL absorption, upper limits to the energy fluence at a 99% confidence level have been evaluated, with values ranging from ∼10−5 erg cm−2 to ∼10−1 erg cm−2. The Fermi-GBM burst GRB 090902B, with a high-energy photon of 33.4 GeV detected by Fermi-LAT, is discussed in detail.

The diversity of GRBs and their SNe: Observations from the 10.4m GTC

AbstractObserving the supernovae (SNe) associated to the different types of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is one of the few means to study their progenitors. In the past years, it has become clear that GRB-like events are more heterogeneous than previously thought. There is a marked difference between long GRBs, which are produced by the collapse of very massive stars and are normally associated with broad-lined type Ic SNe, and short bursts, which occur when two compact objects merge and that, at least in some cases, can produce an associated kilonova. Moreover, the SNe associated with different sub-types of long GRBs are also seen to differ, especially those associated with ultra-long duration GRBs. To address this issue in a systematic way we started an observing programme in 2010 at the 10.4m GTC telescope. Here we present some results of our programme, including the detection of 12 new GRB-SNe. Highlights of our sample are the discovery of the first spectroscopic SN associated with a highly energetic (Eγ, iso ~ 1054 erg) “cosmological” burst (GRB 130427A), the study of the SN associated with a shock-breakout GRB (GRB 140606B) and the SN associated with the peculiar ultra-long GRB 101225A at z = 0.85. The sample includes also the follow-up of several short GRBs in search for kilonovae emission (GRB 130603B and GRB 160821B are important examples). Amongst our latest results we present the photometric and spectroscopic observations of the SNe associated with GRB 150818A and GRB 161219B.

A New Test of Lorentz Invariance Violation: The Spectral Lag Transition of GRB 160625B

Abstract Possible violations of Lorentz invariance (LIV) have been investigated for a long time using the observed spectral lags of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, these generally have relied on using a single photon in the highest energy range. Furthermore, the search for LIV lags has been hindered by our ignorance concerning the intrinsic time lag in different energy bands. GRB 160625B, the only burst so far with a well-defined transition from positive lags to negative lags provides a unique opportunity to put new constraints on LIV. Using multi-photon energy bands we consider the contributions to the observed spectral lag from both the intrinsic time lag and the lag by LIV effects, and assuming the intrinsic time lag to have a positive dependence on the photon energy, we obtain robust limits on LIV by directly fitting the spectral lag data of GRB 160625B. Here we show that these robust limits on the quantum gravity energy scales are E QG , 1 ≥ 0.5 × 10 16 GeV for the linear, and E QG , 2 ≥ 1.4 × 10 7 GeV for the quadratic LIV effects, respectively. In addition, we give, for the first time, a reasonable formulation of the intrinsic energy-dependent time lag.

Confronting GRB prompt emission with a model for subphotospheric dissipation

Abstract The origin of the prompt emission in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is still an unsolved problem and several different mechanisms have been suggested. Here, we fit Fermi GRB data with a photospheric emission model which includes dissipation of the jet kinetic energy below the photosphere. The resulting spectra are dominated by Comptonization and contain no significant contribution from synchrotron radiation. In order to fit to the data, we span a physically motivated part of the model's parameter space and create DREAM (Dissipation with Radiative Emission as A table Model), a table model for XSPEC. We show that this model can describe different kinds of GRB spectra, including GRB 090618, representing a typical Band function spectrum, and GRB 100724B, illustrating a double peaked spectrum, previously fitted with a Band+blackbody model, suggesting they originate from a similar scenario. We suggest that the main difference between these two types of bursts is the optical depth at the dissipation site.

ISOTROPIC DETECTABLE X-RAY COUNTERPARTS TO GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM NEUTRON STAR BINARY MERGERS

Neutron star binary mergers are strong sources of gravitational waves (GWs). Promising electromagnetic counterparts are short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) but the emission is highly collimated. We propose that the scattering of the long-lasting plateau emission in short GRBs by the merger ejecta produces nearly isotropic emission for $\sim 10^4$ s with flux $10^{-13}-10^{-10}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ at 100 Mpc in X-ray. This is detectable by Swift XRT and wide field X-ray detectors such as ISS-Lobster, Einstein Probe, eROSITA and WF-MAXI, which are desired by the infrared and optical follow-ups to localize and measure the distance to the host galaxy. The scattered X-rays obtain linear polarization, which correlates with the jet direction, X-ray luminosity and GW polarizations. The activity of plateau emission is also a natural energy source of a macronova (or kilonova) detected in short GRB 130603B without the $r$-process radioactivity.

MEASURING THE BULK LORENTZ FACTORS OF GAMMA-RAY BURSTS WITHFERMI

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powered by ultrarelativistic jets. Usually a minimum value of the Lorentz factor of the relativistic bulk motion is obtained based on the argument that the observed high-energy photons () can escape without suffering from absorption due to pair production. The exact value, rather than a lower limit, of the Lorentz factor can be obtained if the spectral cutoff due to such absorption is detected. With the good spectral coverage of the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on Fermi, measurements of such a cutoff become possible, and two cases (GRB 090926A and GRB 100724B) have been reported to have high-energy cutoffs or breaks. We systematically search for such high-energy spectral cutoffs/breaks from the LAT and the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) observations of the prompt emission of GRBs detected since 2011 August. Six more GRBs are found to have cutoff-like spectral features at energies of ?10?500 MeV. Assuming that these cutoffs are caused by pair-production absorption within the source, the bulk Lorentz factors of these GRBs are obtained. We further find that the Lorentz factors are correlated with the isotropic gamma-ray luminosity of the bursts, indicating that more powerful GRB jets move faster.

LONG-LASTING BLACK HOLE JETS IN SHORT GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

Whether a short gamma-ray burst (GRB) is caused by a black hole (BH) or a neutron star (NS) after the merger of a NS binary is a crucial problem. We propose a BH model that explains short GRBs with long-lasting activities such as extended emission and plateau emission up to $\sim10000$ s. To extract the BH rotational energy, the topological evolution of the magnetic field should accompany the mass ejection, mass fallback, and magnetic field reconnection. The observations suggest the magnetic field decay from $\sim10^{14}$ G to $\sim10^{13} - 10^{11}$ G at the BH, bounded below by the pre-merger strength and kept constant while the luminosity is constant, and the fallback mass of $\sim10^{-4} - 10^{-2} M_{\odot}$, comparable to the ejecta mass implied by the macronova (or kilonova) in GRB 130603B. The BH model has implications for gravitational waves and the equation of state of NS matter.

Mass ejection from neutron star mergers: different components and expected radio signals

In addition to producing a strong gravitational signal, a short gamma-ray burst (GRB), and a compact remnant, neutron star mergers eject significant masses at significant kinetic energies. This mass ejection takes place via dynamical mass ejection and a GRB jet but other processes have also been suggested: a shock-breakout material, a cocoon resulting from the interaction of the jet with other ejecta, and viscous and neutrino driven winds from the central remnant or the accretion disk. The different components of the ejected masses include up to a few percent of a solar mass, some of which is ejected at relativistic velocities. The interaction of these ejecta with the surrounding interstellar medium will produce a long lasting radio flare, in a similar way to GRB afterglows or to radio supernovae. The relative strength of the different signals depends strongly on the viewing angle. An observer along the jet axis or close to it will detect a strong signal at a few dozen days from the radio afterglow (or the orphan radio afterglow) produced by the highly relativistic GRB jet. For a generic observer at larger viewing angles, the dynamical ejecta, whose contribution peaks a year or so after the event, will generally dominate. Depending on the observed frequency and the external density, other components may also give rise to a significant contribution. We also compare these estimates with the radio signature of the short GRB 130603B. The radio flare from the dynamical ejecta might be detectable with the EVLA and the LOFAR for the higher range of external densities $n\gtrsim 0.5{\rm cm^{-3}}$.

Time delays betweenFermi-LAT and GBM light curves of gamma-ray bursts

Most Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope exhibit a delay of up to about 10 seconds between the trigger time of the hard X-ray signal as measured by the Fermi GBM and the onset of the MeV-GeV counterpart detected by the LAT. This delay may hint at important physics, whether it is due to the intrinsic variability of the inner engine or it is related to quantum dispersion effects in the velocity of light propagation from the sources to the observer. It is critical to have a proper assessment of how these time delays affect the overall properties of the light curves. We cross-correlated the 5 brightest GRBs of the 1st Fermi LAT Catalog by means of the continuous correlation function (CCF) and of the Discrete Correlation Function (DCF). A maximum in the DCF suggests the presence of a time lag between the curves, whose value and uncertainty are estimated through a Gaussian fitting of the DCF profile and light curve simulation via a Monte Carlo approach. The cross-correlation of the observed LAT and GBM light curves yields time lags that are mostly similar to those reported in the literature, but they are formally consistent with zero. The cross-correlation of the simulated light curves yields smaller errors on the time lags and more than one time lag for GRBs 090902B and 090926A; for all 5 GRBs, the time lags are significantly different from zero and consistent with those reported in the literature, when only the secondary maxima are considered for those two GRBs. The DCF method evidences the presence of time lags between the LAT and GBM light curves and underlines their complexity. While this suggests that the delays should be ascribed to intrinsic physical mechanisms, more sensitivity and larger statistics are needed to assess whether time lags are universally present in the early GRB emission and which dynamical time scales they trace.

Optical and X-ray emission from stable millisecond magnetars formed from the merger of binary neutron stars

The coalescence of binary neutron stars (NSs) may in some cases produce a stable massive NS remnant rather than a black hole. Due to the substantial angular momentum from the binary, such a remnant is born rapidly rotating and likely acquires a strong magnetic field (a `millisecond magnetar'). Magnetic spin-down deposits a large fraction of the rotational energy from the magnetar behind the small quantity of mass ejected during the merger. This has the potential for creating a bright transient that could be useful for determining whether a NS or black hole was formed in the merger. We investigate the expected signature of such an event, including for the first time the important impact of electron/positron pairs injected by the millisecond magnetar into the surrounding nebula. These pairs cool via synchrotron and inverse Compton emission, producing a pair cascade and hard X-ray spectrum. A fraction of these X-rays are absorbed by the ejecta walls and re-emitted as thermal radiation, leading to an optical/UV transient peaking at a luminosity of ~1e43-1e44 erg/s on a timescale of several hours to days. This is dimmer than predicted by simpler analytic models because the large optical depth of electron/positron pairs across the nebula suppresses the efficiency with which the magnetar spin down luminosity is thermalized. Nevertheless, the optical/UV emission is more than two orders of magnitude brighter than a radioactively powered `kilonova.' In some cases nebular X-rays are sufficiently luminous to re-ionize the ejecta, in which case non-thermal X-rays escape the ejecta unattenuated with a similar peak luminosity and timescale as the optical radiation. We discuss the implications of our results for the temporally extended X-ray emission that is observed to follow some short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), including the kilonova candidates GRB 080503 and GRB 130603B.

GAMMA-RAY BURST PROMPT EMISSION

The origin of gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission, bursts of γ-rays lasting from shorter than one second to thousands of seconds, remains not fully understood after more than 40 years of observations. The uncertainties lie in several open questions in the GRB physics, including jet composition, energy dissipation mechanism, particle acceleration mechanism and radiation mechanism. Recent broad-band observations of prompt emission with Fermi sharpen the debates in these areas, which stimulated intense theoretical investigations invoking very different ideas. I will review these debates, and argue that the current data suggest the following picture: A quasi-thermal spectral component originating from the photosphere of the relativistic ejecta has been detected in some GRBs. Even though in some cases (e.g. GRB 090902B) this component dominates the spectrum, in most GRBs, this component either forms a sub-dominant "shoulder" spectral component in the low energy spectral regime of the more dominant "Band" component, or is not detectable at all. The main "Band" spectral component likely originates from the optically thin region due to synchrotron radiation. The diverse magnetization in the GRB central engine is likely the origin of the observed diverse prompt emission properties among bursts.

Time-resolved spectral analysis of prompt emission from long gamma-ray bursts with GeV emission

We performed detailed time-resolved spectroscopy of bright long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) which show significant GeV emissions (GRB 080916C, GRB 090902B and GRB 090926A). In addition to the standard Band model, we also use a model consisting of a black body and a power law to fit the spectra. We find that for the latter model there are indications of an additional soft component in the spectra. While previous studies have shown that such models are required for GRB 090902B, here we find that a composite spectral model consisting of two blackbodies and a power law adequately fits the data of all the three bright GRBs. We investigate the evolution of the spectral parameters and find several interesting features that appear in all three GRBs, like (a) temperatures of the blackbodies are strongly correlated with each other, (b) fluxes in the black body components are strongly correlated with each other, (c) the temperatures of the black body trace the profile of the individual pulses of the GRBs, and (d) the characteristics of power law components like the spectral index and the delayed onset bear a close similarity to the emission characteristics in the GeV regions. We discuss the implications of these results and the possibility of identifying the radiation mechanisms during the prompt emission of GRBs.

HIGH-ENERGY EMISSION OF GRB 130427A: EVIDENCE FOR INVERSE COMPTON RADIATION

A nearby superluminous burst GRB 130427A was simultaneously detected by six γ-ray space telescopes (Swift, the Fermi GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM)/Large Area Telescope, Konus-Wind, SPI-ACS/INTEGRAL, AGILE, and RHESSI) and by three RAPTOR full-sky persistent monitors. The isotropic γ-ray energy release is ∼1054 erg, rendering it the most powerful explosion among gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with a redshift z ⩽ 0.5. The emission above 100 MeV lasted about one day, and four photons are at energies greater than 40 GeV. We show that the count rate of 100 MeV–100 GeV emission may be mainly accounted for by the forward shock synchrotron radiation and the inverse Compton radiation likely dominates at GeV–TeV energies. In particular, an inverse Compton radiation origin is favored for the ∼(95.3, 47.3, 41.4, 38.5, 32) GeV photons arriving at t ∼ (243, 256.3, 610.6, 3409.8, 34366.2) s after the trigger of Fermi-GBM. Interestingly, the external inverse Compton scattering of the prompt emission (the second episode, i.e., t ∼ 120–260 s) by the forward-shock-accelerated electrons is expected to produce a few γ-rays at energies above 10 GeV, while five were detected in the same time interval. A possible unified model for the prompt soft γ-ray, optical, and GeV emission of GRB 130427A, GRB 080319B, and GRB 090902B is outlined. Implications of the null detection of >1 TeV neutrinos from GRB 130427A by IceCube are discussed.

REVISITING THE LIGHT CURVES OF GAMMA-RAY BURSTS IN THE RELATIVISTIC TURBULENCE MODEL

Rapid temporal variability has been widely observed in the light curves of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). One possible mechanism for such variability is related to the relativistic eddies in the jet. In this paper, we include the contribution of the inter-eddy medium together with the eddies to the gamma-ray emission. We show that the gamma-ray emission can either lead or lag behind the observed synchrotron emission, where the latter originates in the inter-eddy medium and provides most of seed photons for producing gamma-ray emission through the inverse-Compton scattering. As a consequence, we argue that the lead/lag found in non-stationary short-lived light curves may not reveal the intrinsic lead/lag of different emission components. In addition, our results may explain the lead of gamma-ray emission with respect to optical emission observed in GRB 080319B.

IS THE LATE NEAR-INFRARED BUMP IN SHORT-HARD GRB 130603B DUE TO THE LI-PACZYNSKI KILONOVA?

Short-hard gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are widely believed to be produced by the merger of two binary compact objects, specifically by two neutron stars or by a neutron star orbiting a black hole. According to the Li-Paczynski kilonova model, the merger would launch sub-relativistic ejecta and a near-infrared/optical transient would then occur, lasting up to days, which is powered by the radioactive decay of heavy elements synthesized in the ejecta. The detection of a late bump using the {\em Hubble Space Telescope} ({\em HST}) in the near-infrared afterglow light curve of the short-hard GRB 130603B is indeed consistent with such a model. However, as shown in this Letter, the limited {\em HST} near-infrared lightcurve behavior can also be interpreted as the synchrotron radiation of the external shock driven by a wide mildly relativistic outflow. In such a scenario, the radio emission is expected to peak with a flux of $\sim 100 \mu$Jy, which is detectable for current radio arrays. Hence, the radio afterglow data can provide complementary evidence on the nature of the bump in GRB 130603B. It is worth noting that good spectroscopy during the bump phase in short-hard bursts can test validity of either model above, analogous to spectroscopy of broad-lined Type Ic supernova in long-soft GRBs.