Prospects of calibrating afterglow modeling of short GRBs with gravitational wave inclination angle measurements and resolving the Hubble tension with a GW-GRB association event
Yi-Ying Wang, Shao-Peng Tang, Xin-Yu Li, Zhi-Ping Jin, Yi-Zhong Fan
In the numerical modeling of the GRB afterglow, some approximations have been made for simplicity, and different groups developed their codes. A robust test of these models/approaches is challenging because of the lack of directly measured physical parameters. Fortunately, the viewing angle inferred from the afterglow modeling is widely anticipated to be the same as the inclination angle of the binary neutron star (BNS) mergers that can be evaluated with the gravitational wave (GW) data. Therefore in the future, it is possible to calibrate the afterglow modeling with the GW inclination angle measurements. We take three methods, including both analytical estimations and direct simulations, to project the uncertainties of the inclination angle measurements. For some BNS mergers accompanied with electromagnetic counterparts detected in the O4/O5 runs of LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA/LIGO-India detectors, we show that the inclination angle can be determined within an uncertainty of $\leq 0.1$ rad, supposing that the Hubble constant is known with an accuracy of $\leq 3\%$ and the uncertainty of Hubble flow velocity is within $\sim 1 \%$. The off-axis GRB outflow will give rise to afterglow emission, and the most energetic ones may be detectable at the distance of $\sim$ 100-200 Mpc even for a viewing angle of $\geq 0.3$ rad. Such events can thus serve as a robust test of the afterglow modeling approach. We have also evaluated the prospect of resolving the so-called Hubble tension with a single GW/GRB association event. We find out that a $\sim 3\%$ precision Hubble constant is obtainable if the uncertainty of the viewing angle can be constrained to be within $\sim 0.1$ rad, which is expected to be the case for some nearby ($\leq 250$ Mpc) bright/on-axis GRBs with a well-behaved afterglow light curve displaying a clear achromatic break at early times.
We study the observed correlations between the duration and luminosity of the early afterglow plateau and the isotropic gamma-ray energy release during the prompt phase. We discuss these correlations in the context of two scenarios for the origin of the plateaus. In the first one the afterglow is made by the forward shock and the plateau results from variations of the microphysics parameters while in the second one the early afterglow is made by a long-lived reverse shock propagating in a low Lorentz factor tail of the ejecta.
We present the discovery of two distinct classes in the Swift short duration gamma-ray bursts (S-GRBs) from the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) X-ray afterglow light curve. We find that about 40% of the Swift S-GRBs have an X-ray afterglow light curves which only lasts less than 10000 seconds after the burst trigger (hereafter short-lived S-GRBs). On the other hand, another 60% of S-GRBs have a long lasting X-ray afterglow light curve which resembles the long duration gamma-ray bursts. We also find that none of the short-lived S-GRBs shows the extended emission in the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) energy …
We analyzed 199 GRBs detected by Fermi-LAT during the years 2008-2019. We found 67 photons at energies >=10 GeV, which come from 34 GRBs. Out of these 34 GRBs, Fermi-LAT detects significant (TS>=4) afterglow 0.1-200 GeV photons from 25 GRBs. We present time-integrated 0.1-200 GeV spectra of these 25 GRBs. The spectra of a significant fraction (9/25) of these GRBs revealed a harder component above an energy break of 0.3-2 GeV. While shock synchrotron may account for the photons at the lower energy end, high energy photons above the break is naturally explained by synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) …
The well-sampled afterglows of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) not associated with a supernova (SN) explosion, can be scaled down to a simple dimensionless universal formula, which describes well their temporal behavior. Such SN-less GRBs include short hard bursts (SHBs) and long SN-less GRBs. The universal temporal behavior of their afterglows is that expected from a pulsar wind nebula powered by the rotational energy loss of the newly born pulsar.
The 'jet-break' in the X-ray afterglow of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) appears to be correlated to other properties of the X-ray afterglow and the prompt gamma ray emission, but the correlations are at odds with those predicted by the conical fireball model of GRBs. The correlations are in good agreement, however, with those predicted by the Cannonball model of GRBs.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are ultra-relativistic collimated outflows, which emit synchrotron radiation throughout the entire electromagnetic spectrum when they interact with their environment. This afterglow emission enables us to probe the dynamics of relativistic blast waves, the microphysics of shock acceleration, and environments of GRBs. We perform Bayesian inference on a sample of GRB afterglow data sets consisting of 22 long GRBs and 4 short GRBs, using the afterglow model "scalefit", which is based on 2D relativistic hydrodynamic simulations. We make use of Gaussian processes to account …
We systematically investigate the outflow structure of GW170817 in comparison with a sample of 27 cosmological short GRBs by modelling their afterglow light curves. We find that cosmological short GRBs share the same outflow structures with GW170817, relativistic structured jets. The jet opening angle of GW170817 is $6.3^{+1.1}_{-0.6}{}^{\circ}$, which is consistent with that of cosmological short GRBs ($θ_0 = 6.9^\circ \pm 2.3^{\circ}$). Our analysis indicates that GW170817 is viewed off-axis ($θ_{\rm obs} = 30^{+7}_{-4}{}^{\circ}$), while cosmological short GRBs are viewed on-axis ($θ_{\rm o…
The afterglow emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is a valuable source of information to understand the physics of these energetic explosions. The blast wave model has become the standard to describe the evolution of the afterglow emission over time and frequency. Thanks to recent developments in the theory of afterglows and numerical simulations of relativistic outflows, we are able to model the afterglow emission with realistic dynamics and radiative processes. Although the models agree with observations remarkably well, the afterglow emission still contains additional physics, instrumenta…
We show that the photospheres of "failed" Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), whose bulk Lorentz factors are much lower than 100, can be outside of internal shocks. The resulting radiation from the photospheres is thermal and bright in UV/Soft X-ray band. The photospheric emission lasts for about one thousand seconds with luminosity about several times 10^46 erg/s. These events can be observed by current and future satellites. It is also shown that the afterglows of failed GRBs are peculiar at the early stage, which makes it possible to distinguish failed GRBs from ordinary GRBs and beaming-induced orpha…
The Swift satellite has observed more than a thousand GRBs with X-ray data. Almost a third of them have redshift measurement, too. Here we start to investigate the X-ray spectral fitting of the data considering the low energy part where the N(H) absorption happens. Based on the available more accurate input data we examined the robustness of previous fittings and tested how sensitive the changes of the starting parameters are. We studied the change of the intrinsic hydrogen column density during the outburst for a few events. No significant variability of N(H) column density was identified.
The temporal evolution of the spectral break in the time resolved spectral energy density of the broad band afterglow of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) 091127 and 080319B was shown recently to be inconsistent with that expected for the cooling break in the standard fireball model of GRBs. Here we show that it is, however, in good agreement with the predicted temporal evolution of the smooth injection break/bend in the cannonball model of GRBs.
We calculate the high energy afterglow emission from short Gamma-Ray Bursts (SGRBs) in the external shock model. There are two possible components contributing to the high energy afterglow: the electron synchrotron emission and the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission. We find that for typical parameter values of SGRBs, the early high-energy afterglow emission in 10 MeV-10 GeV is dominated by the synchrotron emission. For a burst occurring at redshift z =0.1, the high-energy emission can be detectable by Fermi LAT if the blast wave has an energy E>=10^51 ergs and the fraction of energy in e…
Bimodal spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow of GRBs 190114C, 130427A and 180720B confirm that they are originated from the synchrotron emission (Syn) and synchrotron self-Compton Scattering process (SSC) of electrons accelerated in the jets. The radiation mechanism and the physics of the observed spectrum-luminosity/energy relations of GRBs remain as open questions. By extracting the Syn component through fitting their early afterglow SEDs with the Syn+SSC model, we find that their luminosity ($L_{\rm syn}$), peak energy ($E_{\rm p,syn,z}$), and the Lorentz …
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which have been observed up to redshifts $z \approx 9.5$ can be good probes of the early universe and have the potential of testing cosmological models. The analysis by Dainotti of GRB Swift afterglow lightcurves with known redshifts and definite X-ray plateau shows an anti-correlation between the \underline{rest frame} time when the plateau ends (the plateau end time) and the calculated luminosity at that time (or approximately an anti-correlation between plateau duration and luminosity). We present here an update of this correlation with a larger data sample of 101 G…
Measuring GRB properties in their rest-frame is crucial to understand the physics at work in gamma-ray bursts. This can only be done for GRBs with known redshift. Since redshifts are usually measured from the optical spectrum of the afterglow, correlations between prompt and afterglow emissions may introduce biases in the distribution of rest-frame properties of the prompt emission, especially considering that we measure the redshift of only one third of Swift GRBs. In this paper we study the brightness of optical GRB afterglows and the role of optical selection effects in the distribution of …
We present a comprehensive statistical analysis of Swift X-ray light-curves of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), with more than 650 GRBs. Two questions drive this effort: (1) Does the X-ray emission retain any kind of memory of the prompt phase? (2) Where is the dividing line between long and short GRBs? We show that short GRBs decay faster, are less luminous and less energetic than long GRBs, but are interestingly characterized by very similar intrinsic absorption. Our analysis reveal the existence of a number of relations that link the X-ray to prompt parameters in long GRBs; short GRBs are outliers …
The VHE component from at least two GRBs, i.e., GRB180720B and GRB190114C, has been detected in the afterglow phase. We systematically analyzed 199 GRBs detected by Fermi-LAT during 2008-2019. If an additional high-energy component exists in the afterglows of Fermi-LAT GRBs, the best-fit spectral model could be a broken power-law (BPL) model with an upturn above a break energy. We compare the afterglow spectra using PL and BPL representations. Out of the 30 GRBs with >10GeV photons that arrived after T90, 25 GRBs are tentatively or significantly detected at 0.1-200 GeV after 2*T90. The spectru…
Thermal radiation, peaking in soft X-rays, has now been detected in a handful of GRB afterglows and has to date been interpreted as shock break-out of the GRB's progenitor star. We present a search for thermal emission in the early X-ray afterglows of a sample of Swift bursts selected by their brightness in X-rays at early times. We identify a clear thermal component in eight GRBs and track the evolution. We show that at least some of the emission must come from highly relativistic material since two show an apparent super-luminal expansion of the thermal component. Furthermore we determine ve…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are extreme events. They are crudely classified into two groups based on their duration, namely the short and long bursts. Such a classification has proven to be useful to determine their progenitors: the merger of two compact objects for short bursts and the explosion of a massive star for long bursts. Further classifying the long GRBs might give tighter constraints on their progenitor and on the emission mechanism(s). In my thesis, I present evidence for the existence of a sub-class of long GRBs, based on their faint afterglow emission. These bursts were named low-lumi…
We discuss the potential of the eROSITA telescope on board the \emph{Spectrum-X-Gamma} observatory to detect gamma-ray burst (GRB) X-ray afterglows during its 4-year all-sky survey. The expected rate of afterglows associated with long-duration GRBs without any information on the bursts proper that can be identified by a characteristic power-law light curve in the eROSITA data is 4--8 events per year. An additional small number, $\lesssim 2$ per year, of afterglows may be associated with short GRBs, ultra hard (GeV) GRBs and X-ray flashes. eROSITA can thus provide the first unbiased (unaffected…
The external forward shock (EFS) models have been the standard paradigm to interpret the broad-band afterglow data of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). One prediction of the models is that some afterglow temporal breaks at different energy bands should be achromatic. Observations in the Swift era have revealed chromatic afterglow behaviors at least in some GRBs, casting doubts on the EFS origin of GRB afterglows. In this paper, we perform a systematic study to address the question: how bad/good are the external forward shock models? Our sample includes 85 GRBs well-monitored X-ray and optical lightcurv…
In the \swift era, two-component jet models were introduced to explain the complex temporal profiles and the diversity of early afterglows. In this paper, we concentrate on the two-component jet model; first component is the conventional afterglow and second is the emission due to the late internal dissipation such as the late-prompt emission. We suggest herein that the two-component jet model can be probed by the existence of two optical peaks for orphan GRB afterglows. Each peak is caused by its respective jet as its relativistic beaming cone widens to encompass the off-axis line of sight. T…
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) have great advantages for their huge burst energies, luminosities and high redshifts in probing the Universe. A few interesting luminosity correlations of GRBs have been used to test cosmology models. Especially, for a subsample of long GRBs with known redshifts and a plateau phase in the afterglow, a correlation between the end time of the plateau phase (in the GRB rest frame) and the corresponding X-ray luminosity has been found. In this paper, we re-analyze the subsample and found that a significantly tighter correlation exists when we add a third parameter, i.e. the…
Measuring gamma-ray burst (GRB) properties in their rest-frame is crucial to understand the physics at work in gamma-ray bursts. This can only be done for GRBs with known redshift. Since redshifts are usually measured from the optical spectrum of the afterglow, correlations between prompt and afterglow emissions may introduce biases in the distribution of rest-frame properties of the prompt emission. Our analysis is based on a sample of 90 GRBs with good optical follow-up and well measured prompt emission. 76 of them have a measure of redshift and 14 have no redshift. We estimate their optical…
We use a parent sample of 118 gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows, with known redshift and host galaxy extinction, to separate afterglows with and without signatures of dominant reverse-shock emission and to determine which physical conditions lead to a prominent reverse-shock emission. We identify 10 GRBs with reverse shock signatures - GRBs 990123, 021004, 021211, 060908, 061126, 080319B, 081007, 090102, 090424 and 130427A. By modeling their optical afterglows with reverse and forward shock analytic light curves and using Monte Carlo simulations, we estimate the parameter space of the physical …
The early X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are usually well described by absorbed power laws. However, in some cases, additional thermal components have been identified. The origin of this emission is debated, with proposed explanations including supernova shock breakout, emission from a cocoon surrounding the jet, as well as emission from the jet itself. A larger sample of detections is needed in order to place constraints on these different models. Here we present a time-resolved spectral analysis of 74 GRBs observed by Swift XRT in a search for thermal components. We report six d…
The Gamma-Ray Bursts - GRBs are one of the most energetic astronomical events in the universe that have not yet an adequate explanation of what kind of mechanism is carried out. This question motivates the astronomical community to do radiation measurements associated with the GRBs. They also are doing physical models to explain the temporal behavior of these observational results. The community are looking for an appropriate explanation of GRBs origin. This thesis presents an astrophysical model that includes an hydrodynamic and radiative aspects. This model studies the temporal evolution of …
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which have been observed up to redshifts z approx 9.5 can be good probes of the early universe and have the potential of testing cosmological models. The analysis by Dainotti of GRB Swift afterglow lightcurves with known redshifts and definite X-ray plateau shows an anti-correlation between the rest frame time when the plateau ends (the plateau end time) and the calculated luminosity at that time (or approximately an anti-correlation between plateau duration and luminosity). We present here an update of this correlation with a larger data sample of 101 GRBs with good l…
The study of the rest frame properties of long Gamma-Ray bursts (GRBs) afterglows is a fundamental aspect for a better understanding of the nature of these powerful explosions. The launch of the Swift satellite (November 2004) marked a strong improvement of the observational capabilities of X-rays and optical afterglows. We studied the intrinsic optical afterglows of a sample of long GRBs finding an unexpected clustering and a hint of bimodality of the optical luminosity distribution (at 12h after the trigger). Through a Montecarlo simulation we proved that both the observed clustering and bim…
We investigate the prospects of detecting radio afterglows from long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) from Population III (Pop III) progenitors using the SKA precursor instruments WMA (Murchison Widefield Array) and ASKAP (Australian SKA Pathfinder). We derive a realistic model of GRB afterglows that encompasses the widest range of plausible physical parameters and observation angles. We define the best case scenario of Pop III GRB energy and redshift distributions. Using probability distribution functions fitted to the observed microphysical parameters of long GRBs, we simulate a large number of Pop I…
The prompt emission of low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts (llGRBs) indicates that these events originate from a relativistic shock breakout. In this case we can estimate, based on the properties of the prompt emission, the energy distribution of the ejecta. We develop a general formalism to estimate the afterglow produced by synchrotron emission from the forward shock resulting from the interaction of this ejecta with the circum-burst matter. We assess whether this emission can produce the observed radio and X-ray afterglows of the available sample of 4 llGRBs. All 4 radio afterglows can be expla…
The new and extreme population of GRBs detected by Fermi-LAT shows several new features in high energy gamma-rays that are providing interesting and unexpected clues into GRB prompt and afterglow emission mechanisms. Over the last 6 years, it has been Swift that has provided the robust dataset of UV/optical and X-ray afterglow observations that opened many windows into components of GRB emission structure. The relationship between the LAT detected GRBs and the well studied, fainter, less energetic GRBs detected by Swift-BAT is only beginning to be explored by multi-wavelength studies. We explo…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are fascinating extragalactic objects. They represent a fantastic opportunity to investigate unique properties not exhibited in other sources. Multi-wavelength afterglow observations from some short- and long-duration GRBs reveal an atypical long-lasting emission that evolves differently from the canonical afterglow light curves favoring the off-axis emission. We present an analytical synchrotron afterglow scenario, and the hydrodynamical evolution of an off-axis top-hat jet decelerated in a stratified surrounding environment. The analytical synchrotron afterglow model …
[abridged] We investigate the afterglow properties and large-scale environments of several short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with sub-arcsecond optical afterglow positions but no bright coincident host galaxies. The purpose of this joint study is to robustly assess the possibility of significant offsets, a hallmark of the compact object binary merger model. Five such events exist in the current sample of 20 short bursts with optical afterglows, and we find that their optical, X-ray, and gamma-ray emission are systematically fainter. These differences may be due to lower circumburst densit…
Jet precessions are widely involved in astrophysical phenomena from galaxies to X-ray binaries and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Polarization presents a unique probe of the magnetic fields in GRB jets. The precession of GRBs relativistic jets will change the geometry within the observable emitting region of the jet, which can potentially affect the polarization of the afterglow. In this paper, we take into account jet precession to study the polarization evolution and corresponding light curves in GRB early optical afterglows with ordered and random magnetic field geometries. We find that the jet p…
To reveal and understand astrophysical processes responsible for the Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) phenomenon, it is crucial to discover and understand relations between their observational properties. The presented study is performed in the GRB rest frames and it uses a sample of 62 long GRBs from our sample of 77 Swift GRBs with known redshifts. Following the earlier analysis of the afterglow {\it characteristic luminosity $L^*_a$ -- break time $T^*_a$} correlation for a sample of long GRBs \citep{Dainotti2010} we extend it to correlations between the afterglow and the prompt emission GRB physical p…
The X-ray afterglow plateau emission observed in many Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) has been interpreted as either being fueled by fallback onto a newly formed black hole, or by the spin-down luminosity of an ultra-magnetized millisecond neutron star. If the latter model is assumed, GRB X-ray afterglow light curves can be analytically reproduced. We fit a sample of GRB X-ray plateaus, interestingly yielding a distribution in the magnetic field versus spin period (B-P) diagram consistent with $B\propto P^{7/6}$. This is expected from the well-established physics of the spin-up line minimum period for…
Radio observations of Gamma Ray Bursts afterglows are fundamental in providing insights into their physics and environment, and in constraining the true energetics of these sources. Nonetheless, radio observations of GRB afterglows are presently sparse in the time/frequency domain. Starting from a complete sample of 58 bright Swift long bursts (BAT6), we constructed a homogeneous sub-sample of 38 radio detections/upper limits which preserves all the properties of the parent sample. One half of the bursts have detections between 1 and 5 days after the explosion with typical fluxes F>100 muJy at…
The X-ray afterglows of GRBs 060413, 060522, 060607A and 080330 are characterized by plateaus that are followed by very sharp drops. An X-ray plateau is interpretable within the framework of the external forward shock model but the sharp drop is not. In this work we interpret these peculiar X-ray afterglow data as the central engine afterglows from some magnetized central engines, plausibly magnetars. In this model, the X-ray afterglows are powered by the internal magnetic energy dissipation and the sudden drop is caused by the collapse of the magnetar. Accordingly, the X-ray plateau photons s…
We study an extensive sample of 87 GRBs for which there are well sampled and simultaneous optical and X-ray light-curves. We extract the cleanest possible signal of the afterglow component, and compare the temporal behaviors of the X-ray light-curve, observed by Swift XRT, and optical data, observed by UVOT and ground-based telescopes for each individual burst. Overall we find 62\% GRBs that are consistent with the standard afterglow model. When more advanced modeling is invoked, up to 91\% of the bursts in our sample may be consistent with the external shock model. A large fraction of these b…
A planned rapid submillimeter (submm) Gamma Ray Burst (GRBs) follow-up observations conducted using the Greenland Telescope (GLT) is presented. The GLT is a 12-m submm telescope to be located at the top of the Greenland ice sheet, where the high-altitude and dry weather porvides excellent conditions for observations at submm wavelengths. With its combination of wavelength window and rapid responding system, the GLT will explore new insights on GRBs. Summarizing the current achievements of submm GRB follow-ups, we identify the following three scientific goals regarding GRBs: (1) systematic dete…
Using the generic hydrodynamic model of Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) afterglows, we calculate the radio afterglow light curves of low luminosity, high luminosity, failed and standard GRBs in different observational bands of FAST's energy window. The GRBs are assumed to be located at different distances from us. Our results rank the detectability of GRBs in descending order as high luminosity, standard, failed and low luminosity GRBs. We predict that almost all types of radio afterglows except that of low luminosity GRBs could be observed by the large radio telescope as long as the domains of time and…
Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are considered to be originated from core collapse of massive stars. It is believed that the afterglow property is determined by the density of the material in the surrounding interstellar medium. Therefore, the circumburst density can be used to distinguish between an interstellar wind $n(R) \propto R^{\rm -k}$, and a constant density medium (ISM), $n(R) = const$. Previous studies with different afterglow samples, show that the circumburst medium of GRBs is neither simply supported by an interstellar wind, nor completely favored by an ISM. In this work, our new sa…
Early rebrightenings at a post-burst time of 10^2 - 10^4 s have been observed in the afterglows of some gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Unlike X-ray flares, these rebrightenings usually last for a relatively long period. The continuous energy injection mechanism usually can only produce a plateau in the afterglow light curve, but not a rebrightening. Also, a sudden energy injection can give birth to a rebrightening, but the rebrightening is a bit too rapid. Here we argued that the early rebrightenings can be produced by the ring-shaped jet model. In this scenario, the GRB outflow is not a full cone, …
With the launch of Gaia satellite, detection of many different types of transient sources will be possible, one of them being optical afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Using the knowledge of the satellites dynamics and properties of GRB optical afterglows we performed a simulation in order to estimate an average GRB detection rate with Gaia. Here we present the simulation results for two types of GRB optical afterglows, differing in the observer's line-of-sight compared to a GRB jet axis: regular (on-axis) and orphan afterglows. Results show that for on-axis GRBs, less than 10 detections …
Very long and precise follow-up measurements of the X-ray afterglow of very intense gamma ray bursts (GRBs) allow a critical test of GRB theories. Here we show that the single power-law decay with time of the X-ray afterglow of GRB 130427A, the record long and most accurately measured X-ray afterglow of an intense GRB by the Swift, Chandra and XMM Newton space observatories, and of all other known intense GRBs, is that predicted by the cannonball (CB) model of GRBs from their measured spectral index, while it disagrees with that predicted by the widely accepted fireball (FB) models of GRBs.
The central engine of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) remains an open and forefront topic in the era of multimessenger astrophysics. The X-ray plateaus appear in some GRB afterglows, which are widely considered to originate from the spindown of magnetars. According to the stable magnetar scenario of GRBs, an X-ray plateau and a decay phase as $\sim t^{-2}$ should appear in X-ray afterglows. Meanwhile, the ``normal'' X-ray afterglow is produced by the external shock from GRB fireball. We analyze the Neil Gehrels \emph{Swift} GRB data, then find three gold samples, which have an X-ray plateau and a deca…
The late-time high-resolution X-ray and radio observations of GRB980425/SN1998bw, the closest known gamma ray burst (GRB) associated with a supernova (SN) explosion, may have actually resolved the hyperluminal source that produced the GRB and its afterglow. Its hyperluminal speed ~350c is consistent with that expected in the cannonball (CB) model of GRBs. The observed superluminal expansion of the late-time radio image of GRB030329/SN2003dh, the GRB with the brightest and longest followed up radio afterglow to date, is also consistent with that expected in the CB model of GRBs and extrapolates…
Flares in the X-ray afterglow of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) share more characteristics with the prompt emission than the afterglow, such as pulse profile and contained fluence. As a result, they are believed to originate from late-time activity of the central engine and can be used to constrain the overall energy budget. In this paper, we collect a sample of $19$ long GRBs observed by \emph{Swift}-XRT that contain giant flares in their X-ray afterglows. We fit this sample with a version of the magnetar propeller model, modified to include fallback accretion. This model has already successfully re…
In this paper we present a sample of 10 short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with a robust redshift determination, discovered by the Swift satellite up to January 2011. We measure their X-ray absorbing column densities and collect data on the host galaxy offsets. We find evidence for intrinsic absorption and no correlation between the intrinsic absorbing column density and the projected offset of the GRB from its host galaxy center. We find that the properties in the gamma regime (T90, fluence and 1-s peak photon flux) of short GRBs with "bright" and "faint" X-ray afterglow likely disfavour different…
Detection of TeV emission during early afterglow from poorly localized GRBs with ground based IACTs
Gran Sasso Science Institute（格兰萨索科学研究所）；INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso（意大利国家核物理研究所-格兰萨索国家实验室）；INAF - Osseravtorio Astronomico di Roma（意大利国家天体物理研究所-罗马天文台）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo（意大利国家天体物理研究所-阿布鲁佐天文台）；Max-Planck-Institut für Physik（马克斯·普朗克物理研究所）；Technische Universität München（慕尼黑工业大学）；Institut de Fisica d’Altes Energies (IFAE)（高能物理研究所）；The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology（巴塞罗那科学技术研究所）
The nature of the shallow decay phase in the X-ray afterglow of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) is not yet clarified. We analyze the data of early X-ray afterglows of 26 GRBs triggered by Burst Alert Telescope onboard Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and subsequently detected by Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and/or Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes. It is found that 9 events (including 2 out of 3 very-high-energy gamma-ray events) have no shallow decay phase and that their X-ray afterglow light curves are well described by single power-law model except for the jet break at later epoch. The r…
It has been claimed recently that Swift has captured for the first time a late-time afterglow re-brightening of clear nonflaring origin after the steep decay of the prompt emission in a long gamma-ray burst (GRB), which may have been produced by a narrow jet viewed far off-axis. However, this interpretation of the observed re-brightening of the X-ray afterglow (AG) of GRB081028 is unlikely in view of its large equivalent isotropic gamma-ray energy. Moreover, we show that the late-time re-brightening of the AG of GRB081028 is well explained by the cannonball (CB) model of GRBs as a synchrotron …
Gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow emission can be observed from sub-TeV to radio wavelengths, though only 6.6\% of observed GRBs present radio afterglows. We examine GRB radio light curves (LCs) to look for the presence of radio plateaus, resembling the plateaus observed in X-ray and optical. We analyze 404 GRBs from the literature with observed radio afterglow and fit 82 GRBs with at least 5 data points with a broken power law (BPL) model, requiring 4 parameters. From these, we find 18 GRBs that present a break feature resembling a plateau. We conduct the first multi-wavelength study of the Dai…
