1. Upper limits on the high-energy emission from gamma-ray bursts observed by AGILE-GRID
- Author
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Arnaud Ferrari, Paolo Lipari, M. Cardillo, F. Fuschino, I. Donnarumma, Y. Evangelista, A. Pellizzoni, Elena Moretti, Paolo Soffitta, A. Giuliani, Marco Tavani, L. Salotti, A. Rappoldi, G. Di Cocco, E. Del Monte, Francesco Longo, S. Sabatini, A. Argan, M. Galli, Andrea Bulgarelli, M. Olivo, C. Pittori, F. Verrecchia, F. Lucarelli, M. Fiorini, G. Pucella, Enrico Costa, M. Giusti, Sandro Mereghetti, E. Striani, Marco Feroci, P. Santolamazza, Luigi Pacciani, Francesco Lazzarotto, L. Nava, V. Vittorini, F. Perotti, A. W. Chen, I. Lapshov, M. Trifoglio, D. Zanello, P. Giommi, Alda Rubini, P. W. Cattaneo, S. Vercellone, Fulvio Gianotti, Filippo D'Ammando, Claudio Labanti, P. Picozza, S. Cutini, M. Rapisarda, S. Colafrancesco, Martino Marisaldi, Maura Pilia, L. A. Antonelli, Alessio Trois, M. Prest, G. Piano, P. A. Caraveo, R. Desiante, G. Barbiellini, A. Morselli, E. Vallazza, Università degli Studi di Udine - University of Udine [Italie], Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut) (MPI-P), AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC (UMR_7164)), Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino (INFN, Sezione di Torino), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Department of Physics and Astronomy [Uppsala], Uppsala University, Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), I.C.R.E, Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali - INAF (IAPS), Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica cosmica - Bologna (IASF-Bo), Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica - Milano (IASF-MI), Dept. of Physics, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata [Roma], Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), Natl Res Council, Perugia Div, Institute of Plant Genetics, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma 3 (INFN, Sezione di Roma 3), INAF-Cagliari Astronomical Observatory, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica cosmica - Palermo (IASF-Pa), Universita degli studi di Napoli 'Parthenope' [Napoli], Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Università degli Studi di Napoli 'Parthenope' = University of Naples (PARTHENOPE), Longo, Francesco, E., Moretti, L., Nava, R., Desiante, M., Olivo, Monte, E., A., Rappoldi, F., Fuschino, M., Marisaldi, A., Giuliani, S., Cutini, M., Feroci, E., Costa, C., Pittori, M., Tavani, A., Argan, G., Barbiellini, A., Bulgarelli, P., Caraveo, M., Cardillo, P. W., Cattaneo, A. W., Chen, F., D'Ammando, Cocco, G., I., Donnarumma, Y., Evangelista, A., Ferrari, M., Fiorini, M., Galli, F., Gianotti, M., Giusti, C., Labanti, I., Lapshov, F., Lazzarotto, P., Lipari, S., Mereghetti, A., Morselli, L., Pacciani, A., Pellizzoni, F., Perotti, G., Piano, P., Picozza, M., Pilia, M., Prest, G., Pucella, M., Rapisarda, A., Rubini, S., Sabatini, P., Soffitta, E., Striani, M., Trifoglio, A., Troi, E., Vallazza, S., Vercellone, V., Vittorini, D., Zanello, L. A., Antonelli, S., Colafrancesco, P., Giommi, P., Santolamazza, F., Verrecchia, F., Lucarelli, L., Salotti, Longo F, Moretti E, Nava L, Desiante R, Olivo M, Del Monte E, Rappoldi A, Fuschino F, Marisaldi M, Giuliani A, Cutini S, Feroci M, Costa E, Pittori C, Tavani M, Argan A, Barbiellini G, Bulgarelli A, Caraveo P, Cardillo M, Cattaneo PW, Chen AW, DAmmando F, Di Cocco G, Donnarumma I, Evangelista Y, Ferrari A, Fiorini M, Galli M, Gianotti F, Giusti M, Labanti C, Lapshov I, Lazzarotto F, Lipari P, Mereghetti S, Morselli A, Pacciani L, Pellizzoni A, Perotti F, Piano G, Picozza P, Pilia M, Prest M, Pucella G, Rapisarda M, Rubini A, Sabatini S, Soffitta P, Striani E, Trifoglio M, Trois A, Vallazza E, Vercellone S, Vittorini V, Zanello D, Antonelli LA, Colafrancesco S, Giommi P, Santolamazza P, Verrecchia F, Lucarelli F, and Salotti L
- Subjects
High energy ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,gamma-ray burst: general ,Context (language use) ,Astrophysics ,general [gamma-ray burst] ,01 natural sciences ,7. Clean energy ,Bayesian data analysis ,AGILE ,gamma ray burst ,0103 physical sciences ,010306 general physics ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,Physics ,[PHYS]Physics [physics] ,Astronomy ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Grid ,Space and Planetary Science ,Gamma-ray burst ,[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] - Abstract
Context. The detection and the characterization of the high energy emission component from individual gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is one of the key science objectives of the currently operating gamma-ray satellite AGILE, launched in April 2007. In its first two years of operation AGILE detected three GRBs with photons of energy larger than 30 MeV. One more GRB was detected in AGILE third operation year, while operating in spinning mode. Aims. For the 64 other GRBs localized during the period July 2007 to October 2009 in the field of view of the AGILE Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID), but not detected by this instrument, we estimate the count and flux upper limits on the GRB high energy emission in the AGILE-GRID energy band (30 MeV-3 GeV). Methods. To calculate the count upper limits, we adopted a Bayesian approach. The flux upper limits are derived using several assumptions on the high-energy spectral behavior. For 28 GRBs with available prompt spectral information, a flux upper limit and the comparison with the expected flux estimated from spectral extrapolation of the Band spectrum to the 30 MeV-3 GeV band are provided. Moreover, upper limits on the flux under the assumption of an extra power law component dominating the 30 MeV-3 GeV band are calculated for all GRBs and considering four different values for the spectral photon index. Finally, we performed a likelihood upper limit on the possible delayed emission up to 1 h after the GRB. Results. The estimated flux upper limits range between 1 x 10(-4) and similar to 2 x 10(-2) photons cm(-2) s(-1) and generally lie above the flux estimated from the extrapolation of the prompt emission in the 30 MeV-3 GeV band. A notable case is GRB 080721, where the AGILE-GRID upper limit suggests a steeper spectral index or the presence of a cut-off in the high energy part of the Band prompt spectrum. The four GRBs detected by AGILE-GRID show high-energy (30 MeV-3 GeV) to low-energy (1 keV-10 MeV) fluence ratios similar to those estimated in this paper for the 64 GRBs without GRID detection, favoring the possibility that AGILE-GRID detected only high-fluence, hard GRBs. From the flux upper limits derived in this work we put some constraint on high-energy radiation from the afterglow emission and from synchrotron self Compton emission in internal shocks.
- Published
- 2012
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