Search

Several correlations among parameters derived from modelling the high-energy properties of GRBs have been reported. We show that well-known examples of these have common features indicative of strong contamination by selection effects. We focus here on the impact of detector threshold truncation on the spectral peak versus isotropic equivalent energy release ($E_{\rm pk}$-$E_{\rm iso}$) relation, extended to a large sample of 218 Swift and 56 HETE-2 GRBs with and without measured redshift. The existence of faint Swift events missing from pre-Swift surveys calls into question inferences based on pre-Swift surveys which must be subject to complicated incompleteness effects. We demonstrate a generalized method for treating data truncation in correlation analyses and apply this method to Swift and pre-Swift data. Also, we show that the $E_{\rm pk}$-$E_{\gamma}$ ("Ghirlanda") correlation is effectively independent of the GRB redshifts, which suggests its existence has little to do with intrinsic physics. We suggest that a physically-based correlation, manifest observationally, must show significantly reduced scatter in the rest frame relative to the observer frame and must not persist if the assumed redshifts are scattered. As with the $E_{\rm pk}$-$E_{\gamma}$ correlation, we find that the pre-Swift, bright GRB $E_{\rm pk}$-$E_{\rm iso}$ correlation of \citet{amati06} does not rigorously satisfy these conditions., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, ApJ Accepted

We examine the rest frame energetics of 76 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with known redshift that were detected by the Swift spacecraft and monitored by the satellite's X-ray Telescope (XRT). Using the bolometric fluence values estimated in Butler et al. 2007b and the last XRT observation for each event, we set a lower limit the their collimation corrected energy Eg and find that a 68% of our sample are at high enough redshift and/or low enough fluence to accommodate a jet break occurring beyond the last XRT observation and still be consistent with the pre-Swift Eg distribution for long GRBs. We find that relatively few of the X-ray light curves for the remaining events show evidence for late-time decay slopes that are consistent with that expected from post jet break emission. The breaks in the X-ray light curves that do exist tend to be shallower and occur earlier than the breaks previously observed in optical light curves, yielding a Eg distribution that is far lower than the pre-Swift distribution. If these early X-ray breaks are not due to jet effects, then a small but significant fraction of our sample have lower limits to their collimation corrected energy that place them well above the pre-Swift Eg distribution. Either scenario would necessitate a much wider post-Swift Eg distribution for long cosmological GRBs compared to the narrow standard energy deduced from pre-Swift observations. We note that almost all of the pre-Swift Eg estimates come from jet breaks detected in the optical whereas our sample is limited entirely to X-ray wavelengths, furthering the suggestion that the assumed achromaticity of jet breaks may not extend to high energies., Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, Accepted to ApJ

We calculate durations and spectral paramaters for 218 Swift bursts detected by the BAT instrument between and including GRBs 041220 and 070509, including 77 events with measured redshifts. Incorporating prior knowledge into the spectral fits, we are able to measure the characteristic $\nu F_{\nu}$ spectral peak energy $E_{\rm pk,obs}$ and the isotropic equivalent energy $E_{\rm iso}$ (1--$10^4$ keV) for all events. This complete and rather extensive catalog, analyzed with a unified methodology, allows us to address the persistence and origin of high-energy correlations suggested in pre-Swift observations. We find that the $E_{\rm pk,obs}$-$E_{\rm iso}$ correlation is present in the Swift sample; however, the best-fit powerlaw relation is inconsistent with the best-fit pre-Swift relation at >5 sigma significance. Moreover, it has a factor >~ 2 larger intrinsic scatter, after accounting for large errors on $E_{\rm pk,obs}$. A large fraction of the Swift events are hard and subluminous relative to (and inconsistent with) the pre-Swift relation, in agreement with indications from BATSE GRBs without redshift. Moreover, we determine an experimental threshold for the BAT detector and show how the $E_{\rm pk,obs}$--$E_{\rm iso}$ correlation arises artificially due to partial correlation with the threshold. We show that pre-Swift correlations found by Amati et al.(2002), Yonetoku et al. (2004), Firmani et al.(2006) (and independently by others) are likely unrelated to the physical properties of GRBs and are likely useless for tests of cosmology. Also, an explanation of these correlations in terms of a detector threshold provides a natural and quantitative explanation for why short-duration GRBs and events at low redshift tend to be outliers to the correlations., Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, Accepted to ApJ

The early, highly time-variable X-ray emission immediately following GRBs exhibits strong spectral variations that are unlike the temporally smoother emission which dominates after $t\sim 10^3$ s. The ratio of hard channel (1.3-10.0 keV) to soft channel (0.3-1.3 keV) counts in the Swift X-ray telescope provides a new measure delineating the end time of this emission. We define $T_{H}$ as the time at which this transition takes place and measure for 59 events a range of transition times that span $10^2$ s to $10^{4}$ s, on average 5 times longer than the prompt $T_{90}$ duration observed in the Gamma-ray band. It is very likely that the mysterious light curve plateau phase and the later powerlaw temporal evolution, both of which typically occur at times greater than $T_{H}$ and hence exhibit very little hardness ratio evolution, are both produced by external shocking of the surrounding medium and not by the internal shocks thought responsible for the earlier emission. We use the apparent lack of spectral evolution to discriminate against proposed models for the plateau phase emission. We favor energy injection scenarios with a roughly linearly increasing input energy versus time for six well sampled events with nearly flat light curves at $t\approx 10^3-10^4$s. Also, using the transition time $T_{H}$ as the delineation between the GRB and afterglow emission, we calculate that the kinetic energy in the afterglow shock is typically a factor of 10 lower than that released in the GRB. Lack of hardness variations in these three events may be due to a very highly relatavistic outflow or due to a very dense circumburst medium. There are a handful of rare cases of very late time $t>10^4$s hardness evolution, which may point to residual central engine activity at very late time., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, includes material removed from astro-ph/0612564 v1, Accepted to ApJ

We study the duration and variability of late time X-ray flares following gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed by the narrow field X-ray telescope (XRT) aboard the {\it Swift} spacecraft. These flares are thought to be indicative of late time activity by the central engine that powers the GRB and produced by means similar to those which produce the prompt emission. We use a non-parametric procedure to study the overall temporal properties of the flares and a structure function analysis to look for an evolution of the fundamental variability time-scale between the prompt and late time emission. We find a strong correlation in 28 individual x-ray flares in 18 separate GRBs between the flare duration and their time of peak flux since the GRB trigger. We also find a qualitative trend of decreasing variability as a function of time since trigger, with a characteristic minimum variability timescale $\Delta t/t=0.1$ for most flares. We interpret these results as evidence of internal shocks at collision radii that are larger than those that produced the prompt emission. Contemporaneous detections of high energy emission by GLAST could be a crucial test in determining if indeed these X-ray flares originate as internal shocks behind the afterglow, as any X-ray emission originating from behind the afterglow is expected to undergo inverse Compton scattering as it passes through the external shock., Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Submitted to ApJ. This work expands upon and formalizes our previous report at the October 2006 AAS HEAD Meeting of the discovery of pulse width evolution

We report simultaneous multicolor near-infrared (NIR) observations of the supernova associated with x-ray Flash 060218 during the first 16 days after the high energy event. We find that the light curve rises and peaks relatively fast compared to other SN Ic, with the characteristic broad NIR peak seen in all three bands. We find that the rise profile before the peak is largely independent of NIR wavelength, each band appearing to transition into a plateau phase around day 10--13. Since the light curve is in the plateau phase when our observations end at day 16, we can only place limits on the peak absolute magnitudes, but we estimate that SN 2006aj is one of the lowest NIR luminosity XRF/GRB associated SNe observed to date. The broad peaks observed in the {\em JHK$_s$} bands point to a large increase in the NIR contribution of the total flux output from days 10--16. This evolution can be seen in the broad color and SED diagrams constructed using {\em UBVRIJHK$_s$} monochromatic flux measurements for the first 16 days of the event. Ultimately, a 10-day rise time would make SN 2006aj an extremely fast rise SN Ic event, faster than SN 1998bw and SN 2003dh, which combined with its underluminous nature, indicates a lower amount of $^{56}$Ni ejected by the progenitor compared to other XRF/GRB-SNe. Furthermore, the lack of significant color change during the rise portion of the burst points to little or no spectral evolution over the first 10 days of activity in the NIR., Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures (6 color, 1 bw), 3 tables

We show that the X-ray and $\gamma$-ray spectra of Swift GRBs and their afterglows are consistent with the emission characteristic of an expanding, relativistic fireball. The classical afterglow due to the impact of the fireball on the external medium is often not observed until one to several hours after the GRB. Focusing on GRBs 061121, 060614, and 060124, but generalizing to the full ($>$50 Msec XRT exposure) Swift sample up to and including GRB061210, we show that the early emission in $>$90% of early afterglows has a characteristic $\nu F_{\nu}$ spectral energy $E_{\rm peak}$ which likely evolves from the $\gamma$-rays through the soft X-ray band on timescales of $10^2-10^4$s after the GRB. The observed spectra are strongly curved when plotted with logarithmic axes and have often been incorrectly fitted in other studies with a time-varying soft X-ray absorption. The spectral evolution inferred from fitting instead models used to fit GRBs demonstrates a common evolution--a powerlaw hardness intensity correlation and hard to soft evolution--for GRBs and the early X-ray afterglows and X-ray flares. Combined with studies of short timescale variability, our findings indicate a central engine active for longer than previously suspected. The GRB spectra are observed to become very soft at late times due to an intrinsic spectral evolution and due to the surprising faintness of some afterglows. We discuss models for the early X-ray emission., Comment: 23 pages plus 18 figures and 3 tables, Accepted to ApJ

It is now accepted that long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are produced during the collapse of a massive star. The standard "collapsar" model predicts that a broad-lined and luminous Type Ic core-collapse supernova (SN) accompanies every long-duration GRB. This association has been confirmed in observations of several nearby GRBs. Here we present observations of two nearby long-duration GRBs that challenge this simple view. In the GRBs 060505 and 060614 we demonstrate that no SN emission accompanied these long-duration bursts, down to limits hundreds of times fainter than the archetypal SN 1998bw that accompanied GRB 980425, and fainter than any Type Ic SN ever observed. Multi-band observations of the early afterglows, as well as spectroscopy of the host galaxies, exclude the possibility of significant dust obscuration and show that the bursts originated in star-forming regions. The absence of a SN to such deep limits is qualitatively different from all previous nearby long GRBs and suggests a new phenomenological type of massive stellar death. From the supplementary material: Now we have observed SN-less GRBs in star-forming regions, suggesting that a non-detection of a SN does not preclude a massive progenitor. The position of the GRB, i.e. in a star-forming region or in an older component, may be the only way to discriminate between merging compact objects and massive stars as progenitors. In fact, several host galaxies for short GRBs have been found to be as actively star-forming as some host galaxies of long-duration GRBs. The GRB labels "long" and "short" have become synonymous with "massive stars" and "other progenitors". These distinctions may need to be relaxed., Comment: Submitted to Nature on July 7. Posted on Nature website July 12. Revised on August 10 and accepted October 20. Astro-ph version corrected for a few typos and given the final title

We estimate the luminosity evolution and formation rate for over 900 GRBs by using redshift and luminosity data calculated by Band, Norris, $&$ Bonnell (2004) via the lag-luminosity correlation. By applying maximum likelihood techniques, we are able to infer the true distribution of the parent GRB population's luminosity function and density distributions in a way that accounts for detector selection effects. We find that after accounting for data truncation, there still exists a significant correlation between the average luminosity and redshift, indicating that distant GRBs are on average more luminous than nearby counterparts. This is consistent with previous studies showing strong source evolution and also recent observations of under luminous nearby GRBs. We find no evidence for beaming angle evolution in the current sample of GRBs with known redshift, suggesting that this increase in luminosity can not be due to an evolution of the collimation of gamma-ray emission. The resulting luminosity function is well fit with a single power law of index $L'^{-1.5}$, which is intermediate between the values predicted by the power-law and Gaussian structured jet models. We also find that the GRB comoving rate density rises steeply with a broad peak between $1 3$. This rate density qualitatively matches the current estimates of the cosmic star formation rate, favoring a short lived massive star progenitor model, or a binary model with a short delay between the formation of the compact object and the eventual merger.

We report on a search for high-energy counterparts to fast radio bursts (FRBs) with the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor, Fermi Large Area Telescope, and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Burst Alert Telescope. We find no significant associations for any of the 23 FRBs in our sample, but report upper limits to the high-energy fluence for each on timescales of 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 s. We report lower limits on the ratio of the radio to high-energy fluence, f(sub r) /f(sub γ), for timescales of 0.1 and 100 s. We discuss the implications of our non-detections on various proposed progenitor models for FRBs, including analogs of giant pulses from the Crab pulsar and hyperflares from magnetars. This work demonstrates the utility of analyses of high-energy data for FRBs in tracking down the nature of these elusive sources..

Moon Burst Energetics All-sky Monitor (MoonBEAM) is a CubeSat concept of deploying gamma-ray detectors in cislunar space to increase gamma-ray burst detections and improve localization precision with the timing triangulation technique. A gamma-ray instrument in cislunar orbit will have greatly reduced sky blockage compared to instruments in low Earth orbit. Working in conjunction with another instrument in low Earth orbit, MoonBEAM can also help constrain the arrival direction of the wavefront to an annulus on the sky by utilizing the light arrival times between the different orbits. This method has been demonstrated by the Interplanetary Gamma- Ray Burst Timing Network. However, delays in data downlink for instruments outside the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite network prevent rapid follow-up observations. We present here a gamma-ray CubeSat concept in Earth-Moon L3 halo orbit that is capable of faster response and provide a timing baseline for localization improvement. Such an instrument would aid in the gravitational wave follow-up observations in other wavelengths to identify the gamma-ray burst afterglow and kilonova emission. Reducing the region of interest makes identifying afterglows much faster, allowing for rapid on-source observations and monitoring of the rise and decay times. It will also prevent source confusion between two transients and enable robust association. A gamma-ray detection could also increase the confidence of a simultaneous but marginal gravitational wave signal, extending the detection horizon. MoonBEAM is a 12U CubeSat concept of deploying gamma-ray detectors in cislunar space to increase gamma-ray burst detections and improve localization precision with the timing triangulation technique. Such an instrument would probe the extreme processes in cosmic collision of compact objects and facilitate multi-messenger time-domain astronomy to explore the end of stellar life cycles and black hole formations.

IceCube detected three neutrino-induced track events arriving within less than 100s from a similar direction. Expected chance occurrence rate of 1 every 14 years, so not exceptionally rare, but interesting. If astrophysical in nature, the source would have to be relatively nearby or be an exceptional bright neutrino emitter. Follow-up observations by Swift-BAT, Swift-XRT, Master, ASAS-SN, LCOG, Veritas, FACT, and HAWC. The IceCube collaboration wanted to produce a paper summarizing the non-detections and outlining the follow-up network they have assembled. We were asked by Anna Franckowiak to contribute Fermi analysis to their write-up of this event.

Spectra of broad-lined Type Ic supernovae (SN Ic-BL), the only kind of SN observed at the locations of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs), exhibit wide features indicative of high ejecta velocities ((is) approximately 0.1c). We study the host galaxies of a sample of 245 low-redshift (z (is) less than 0.2) core-collapse SN, including 17 SN Ic-BL, discovered by galaxy-untargeted searches, and 15 optically luminous and dust-obscured z (is) less than 1.2 LGRBs. We show that, in comparison with SDSS galaxies having similar stellar masses, the hosts of low-redshift SN Ic- BL and z (is) is less than 1.2 LGRBs have high stellar-mass and star-formation-rate densities. Core-collapse SN having typical ejecta velocities, in contrast, show no preference for such galaxies. Moreover, we find that the hosts of SN Ic-BL, unlike those of SN Ib/Ic and SN II, exhibit high gas velocity dispersions for their stellar masses. The patterns likely reflect variations among star-forming environments, and suggest that LGRBs can be used as probes of conditions in high-redshift galaxies. They may be caused by efficient formation of massive binary progenitors systems in densely star-forming regions, or, less probably, a higher fraction of stars created with the initial masses required for a SN Ic-BL or LGRB. Finally, we show that the preference of SN Ic-BL and LGRBs for galaxies with high stellar-mass and star-formation-rate densities cannot be attributed to a preference for low metal abundances but must reflect the influence of a separate environmental factor.