Search

The low energy spectra of some gamma-ray bursts' show excess components beside the power-law dependence. The consequences of such a feature allows to estimate the gamma photometric redshift of the long gamma-ray bursts in the BATSE Catalog. There is good correlation between the measured optical and the estimated gamma photometric redshifts. The estimated redshift values for the long bright gamma-ray bursts are up to z=4, while for the the faint long bursts - which should be up to z=20 - the redshifts cannot be determined unambiguously with this method. The redshift distribution of all the gamma-ray bursts with known optical redshift agrees quite well with the BATSE based gamma photometric redshift distribution., Comment: published in Baltic Astronomy

We provided separate bivariate log-normal distribution fits to the BATSE short and long burst samples using the durations and fluences. We show that these fits present an evidence for a power-law dependence between the fluence and the duration, with a statistically significant different index for the long and short groups. We argue that the effect is probably real, and the two subgroups are different physical phenomena. This may provide a potentially useful constraint for models of long and short bursts., Comment: 2 figures

Until 6 October 2005 sixteen redshifts have been measured of long gamma-ray bursts discovered by the Swift satellite. Further 45 redshifts have been measured of the long gamma-ray bursts discovered by other satellites. Here we perform five statistical tests comparing the redshift distributions of these two samples assuming - as the null hypothesis - identical distribution for the two samples. Three tests (Student's $t$-test, Mann-Whitney test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test) reject the null hypothesis on the significance levels between 97.19 and 98.55%. Two different comparisons of the medians show extreme $(99.78-99.99994)$% significance levels of rejection. This means that the redshifts of the Swift sample and the redshifts of the non-Swift sample are distributed differently - in the Swift sample the redshifts are on average larger. This statistical result suggests that the long GRBs should on average be at the higher redshifts of the Swift sample., Comment: 4 pages, accepted as an A&A Research Note

We present an analysis indicating that there is a correlation between the fluences and the durations of gamma-ray bursts, and provide arguments that this reflects a correlation between the total emitted energies and the intrinsic durations. For the short (long) bursts the total emitted energies are roughly proportional to the first (second) power of the intrinsic duration. This difference in the energy-duration relationship is statistically significant, and may provide an interesting constraint on models aiming to explain the short and long gamma-ray bursts., Comment: In Gamma-Ray Burst in the Afterglow Era. Springer. ed by E. Costa, F. Frontera, and J. Hjorth

We argue that the distributions of both the intrinsic fluence and the intrinsic duration of the gamma-ray emission in gamma-ray bursts from the BATSE sample are well represented by log-normal distributions, in which the intrinsic dispersion is much larger than the cosmological time dilatation and redshift effects. We perform separate bivariate log-normal distribution fits to the BATSE short and long burst samples. The bivariate log-normal behaviour results in an ellipsoidal distribution, whose major axis determines an overall statistical relation between the fluence and the duration. We show that this fit provides evidence for a power-law dependence between the fluence and the duration, with a statistically significant different index for the long and short groups. We discuss possible biases, which might affect this result, and argue that the effect is probably real. This may provide a potentially useful constraint for models of long and short bursts., Comment: A.A. in press ; significantly revised version of astro-ph/0007438; 16 pages 5 PS figures

It is known that the soft tail of the gamma-ray bursts' spectra show excesses from the exact power-law dependence. In this article we show that this departure can be detected in the peak flux ratios of different BATSE DISCSC energy channels. This effect allows to estimate the redshift of the bright long gamma-ray bursts in the BATSE Catalog. A verification of these redshifts is obtained for the 8 GRB which have both BATSE DISCSC data and measured optical spectroscopic redshifts. There is good correlation between the measured and esti redshifts, and the average error is $\Delta z \approx 0.33$. The method is similar to the photometric redshift estimation of galaxies in the optical range, hence it can be called as "gamma photometric redshift estimation". The estimated redshifts for the long bright gamma-ray bursts are up to $z \simeq 4$. For the the faint long bursts - which should be up to $z \simeq 20$ - the redshifts cannot be determined unambiguously with this method., Comment: accepted in A&A, 7 pages incl. 7 figures

We argue that the distributions of both the intrinsic fluence and the intrinsic duration of the gamma-ray emission in gamma-ray bursts from the BATSE sample are well represented by log-normal distributions, in which the intrinsic dispersion is much larger than the cosmological time dilatation and redshift effects. We perform separate bivariate log-normal distribution fits to the BATSE short and long burst samples. The bivariate log-normal behavior results in an ellipsoidal distribution, whose major axis determines an overall statistical relation between the fluence and the duration. We show that this fit provides evidence for a power-law dependence between the fluence and the duration, with a statistically significant different index for the long and short groups. We discuss possible biases which might affect this result, and argue that the effect is probably real. This may provide a potentially useful constraint for models of long and short bursts., Comment: revised version, ApJ subm 3/15/01; includes substantial additional calculations and discussion of biases, title change, additional figure

We have carried out a photometric and spectroscopic survey of bright high-amplitude delta Scuti (HADS) stars. The aim was to detect binarity and multiperiodicity (or both) in order to explore the possibility of combining binary star astrophysics with stellar oscillations. Here we present the first results for ten, predominantly southern, HADS variables. We detected the orbital motion of RS Gru with a semi-amplitude of ~6.5 km/s and 11.5 days period. The companion is inferred to be a low-mass dwarf star in a close orbit around RS Gru. We found multiperiodicity in RY Lep both from photometric and radial velocity data and detected orbital motion in the radial velocities with hints of a possible period of 500--700 days. The data also revealed that the amplitude of the secondary frequency is variable on the time-scale of a few years, whereas the dominant mode is stable. Radial velocities of AD CMi revealed cycle-to-cycle variations which might be due to non-radial pulsations. We confirmed the multiperiodic nature of BQ Ind, while we obtained the first radial velocity curves of ZZ Mic and BE Lyn. The radial velocity curve and the O-C diagram of CY Aqr are consistent with the long-period binary hypothesis. We took new time series photometry on XX Cyg, DY Her and DY Peg, with which we updated their O-C diagrams., Comment: 15 pages, 16 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We study statistically 197 long gamma-ray bursts, detected and measured in detail by the BATSE instrument of the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. In the sample 10 variables, describing for any burst the time behavior of the spectra and other quantities, are collected. The factor analysis method is used to find the latent random variables describing the temporal and spectral properties of GRBs. The application of this particular method to this sample indicates that five factors and the $\REpk$ spectral variable (the ratio of peak energies in the spectrum) describe the sample satisfactorily. Both the pseudo-redshifts inferred from the variability, and the Amati-relation in its original form, are disfavored., Comment: 5 pages, acceptod to A&A

We report on the detection by Swift of GRB 080913, and subsequent optical/near-infrared follow-up observations by GROND which led to the discovery of its optical/NIR afterglow and the recognition of its high-z nature via the detection of a spectral break between the i' and z' bands. Spectroscopy obtained at the ESO-VLT revealed a continuum extending down to lambda = 9400 A, and zero flux for 7500 A < lambda<9400 A, which we interpret as the onset of a Gunn-Peterson trough at z=6.695+-0.025 (95.5% conf. level), making GRB 080913 the highest redshift GRB to date, and more distant than the highest-redshift QSO. We note that many redshift indicators which are based on promptly available burst or afterglow properties have failed for GRB 080913. We report on our follow-up campaign and compare the properties of GRB 080913 with bursts at lower redshift. In particular, since the afterglow of this burst is fainter than typical for GRBs, we show that 2m-class telescopes can identify most high-redshift GRBs., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, ApJ (subm)

This is a report on the findings of the SNR/cosmic-ray working group for the white paper on the status and future of ground-based gamma-ray astronomy. The white paper is an APS commissioned document, and the overall version has also been released and can be found on astro-ph. This detailed section of the white paper discusses the status of past and current attempts to observe shell-type supernova remnants and diffuse emission from cosmic rays at GeV-TeV energies. We concentrate on the potential of future ground-based gamma-ray experiments to study the acceleration of relativistic charged particles which is one of the main unsolved, yet fundamental, problems in modern astrophysics. The acceleration of particles relies on interactions between energetic particles and magnetic turbulence. In the case of SNRs we can perform spatially resolved studies in systems with known geometry, and the plasma physics deduced from these observations will help us to understand other systems where rapid particle acceleration is believed to occur and where observations as detailed as those of SNRs are not possible., Comment: Report from the SNR/CR Working group of the APS-commissioned White paper on ground-based gamma ray astronomy. More information available at http://cherenkov.physics.iastate.edu/wp/

This is a report on the findings of the gamma ray burst working group for the white paper on the status and future of TeV gamma-ray astronomy. The white paper is an APS commissioned document, and the overall version has also been released and can be found on astro-ph. This detailed section of the white paper discusses the status of past and current attempts to observe gamma ray bursts at GeV-TeV energies. We concentrate on the potential of future ground-based gamma-ray experiments to observe the highest energy emission ever recorded for GRBs, particularly for those that are nearby and have high Lorentz factors in the GRB jet. It is clear that major advances are possible and that the detection of very high energy emission would have strong implications for GRB models, as well as cosmic ray origin., Comment: report from the Gamma Ray Burst Working group of the APS commissioned White paper on ground-based TeV gamma ray astronomy

We suggest that non-thermal emission can be produced by multiple scatterings of the photons between the supernova ejecta and pre-shock material in supernova shock breakout. Such bulk-Comptonization process may significantly change the original thermal photon spectrum, forming a power-law non-thermal component at higher energies. We then show that the luminous X-ray outburst XRO081009 associated with SN2008D is likely to be such shock breakout emission from an ordinary type Ib/c supernova., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, based on the talk given by Xiang-Yu Wang at the "2008 Nanjing GRB Conference" (evening focused discussion), To appear in the "2008 Nanjing GRB Conference" conference proceedings

A class of very energetic supernovae (hypernovae) is associated with long gamma-ray bursts, in particular with a less energetic but more frequent population of gamma-ray bursts. Hypernovae also appear to be associated with mildly relativistic jets or outflows, even in the absence of gamma-ray bursts. Here we consider radiation from charged particles accelerated in such mildly relativistic outflows with kinetic energies of ~10^{50} erg. The radiation processes of the primarily accelerated electrons considered are synchrotron radiation and inverse-Compton scattering of synchrotron photons (synchrotron self-Compton; SSC) and of supernova photons (external inverse-Compton; EIC). In the soft X-ray regime, both the SSC and EIC flux can be the dominant component, but due to their very different spectral shapes it should be easy to distinguish between them. When the fraction of the kinetic energy going into the electrons (\epsilon_e) is large, the SSC is expected to be important; otherwise the EIC will dominate. The EIC flux is quite high, almost independently of \epsilon_e, providing a good target for X-ray telescopes such as XMM-Newton and Chandra. In the GeV gamma-ray regime, the EIC would be the dominant radiation process and the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) should be able to probe the value of \epsilon_e, the spectrum of the electrons, and their maximum acceleration energy. Accelerated protons also lead to photon radiation through the secondary electrons produced by the photopion and photopair processes. We find that over a significant range of parameters the proton component is generally less prominent than the primary electron component. We discuss the prospects for the detection of the X-ray and GeV signatures of the mildly relativistic outflow of hypernovae., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; accepted by ApJ

We discuss the relevance of the curvature radiation of pions in strongly magnetized pulsars or magnetars, and their implications for the production of TeV energy neutrinos detectable by cubic kilometer scale detectors, as well as high energy photons., Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, to appear in JCAP

The prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is widely thought to be radiation from accelerated electrons, but an appreciably larger amount of energy could be carried by accelerated protons, particularly if GRBs are the sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). We model the expected photon spectra for such "proton-dominated" GRBs in the internal shock scenario through Monte Carlo simulations, accounting for various processes related to high-energy electrons and protons. Besides proton and muon synchrotron components, emission from photomeson-induced secondary pair cascades becomes crucial, generally enhancing the GeV-TeV and/or eV-keV photons and offering a signature of UHE protons. In some cases, it can overwhelm the primary electron component and result in GRBs peaking in the 10 MeV - 1 GeV range, which may be relevant to some bursts discussed in a recent re-analysis of EGRET TASC data. The dependence of the spectra on key quantities such as the bulk Lorentz factor, magnetic field and proton-to-electron ratio is nontrivial due to the nonlinear nature of cascading and the interplay of electron- and proton-induced components. Observations by {\it Fermi}, ground-based telescopes and other facilities should test these expectations and provide critical constraints on the proton acceleration efficiency., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures

We studied the complete randomness of the angular distribution of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by BATSE. Since GRBs seem to be a mixture of objects of different physical nature we divided the BATSE sample into 5 subsamples (short1, short2, intermediate, long1, long2) based on their durations and peak fluxes and studied the angular distributions separately. We used three methods, Voronoi tesselation, minimal spanning tree and multifractal spectra to search for non-randomness in the subsamples. To investigate the eventual non-randomness in the subsamples we defined 13 test-variables (9 from the Voronoi tesselation, 3 from the minimal spanning tree and one from the multifractal spectrum). Assuming that the point patterns obtained from the BATSE subsamples are fully random we made Monte Carlo simulations taking into account the BATSE's sky-exposure function. The MC simulations enabled us to test the null hypothesis i.e. that the angular distributions are fully random. We tested the randomness by binomial test and introducing squared Euclidean distances in the parameter space of the test-variables. We concluded that the short1, short2 groups deviate significantly (99.90%, 99.98%) from the fully randomness in the distribution of the squared Euclidean distances but it is not the case at the long samples. At the intermediate group the squared Euclidean distances also give significant deviation (98.51%)., Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) release copious amounts of energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and so provide a window into the process of black hole formation from the collapse of a massive star. Over the last forty years, our understanding of the GRB phenomenon has progressed dramatically; nevertheless, fortuitous circumstances occasionally arise that provide access to a regime not yet probed. GRB 080319B presented such an opportunity, with extraordinarily bright prompt optical emission that peaked at a visual magnitude of 5.3, making it briefly visible with the naked eye. It was captured in exquisite detail by wide-field telescopes, imaging the burst location from before the time of the explosion. The combination of these unique optical data with simultaneous gamma-ray observations provides powerful diagnostics of the detailed physics of this explosion within seconds of its formation. Here we show that the prompt optical and gamma-ray emissions from this event likely arise from different spectral components within the same physical region located at a large distance from the source, implying an extremely relativistic outflow. The chromatic behaviour of the broadband afterglow is consistent with viewing the GRB down the very narrow inner core of a two-component jet that is expanding into a wind-like environment consistent with the massive star origin of long GRBs. These circumstances can explain the extreme properties of this GRB., Comment: 43 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Nature May 11, 2008

This is a short report on the preliminary findings of the gamma ray burst (GRB) working group for the white paper on the status and future of very high energy (VHE; >50 GeV) gamma-ray astronomy. The white paper discusses the status of past and current attempts to observe GRBs at GeV-TeV energies, including a handful of low-significance, possible detections. The white paper concentrates on the potential of future ground-based gamma-ray experiments to observe the highest energy emission ever recorded for GRBs, particularly for those that are nearby and have high Lorentz factors in the GRB jet. It is clear that the detection of VHE emission would have strong implications for GRB models, as well as cosmic ray origin. In particular, the extended emission phase (including both afterglow emission and possible flaring) of nearby long GRBs could provide the best possibility for detection. The difficult-to-obtain observations during the prompt phase of nearby long GRBs and short GRBs could also provide particularly strong constraints on the opacity and bulk Lorentz factors surrounding the acceleration site. The synergy with upcoming and existing observatories will, of course, be critical for both identification of GRBs and for multiwavelength/multimessenger studies., Comment: to appear in Proceedings of Gamma Ray Bursts 2007 Meeting, Santa Fe, New Mexico; 5 pages, 4 figures

Recent observations show that hypernovae may deposit some fraction of their kinetic energy in mildly relativistic ejecta. In the dissipation process of such ejecta in a stellar wind, cosmic ray protons can be accelerated up to $\sim 10^{19}$ eV. We discuss the TeV to MeV gamma-ray and the X-ray photon signatures of cosmic rays accelerated in hypernovae. Secondary X-ray photons, emitted by electron-positron pairs produced via cascade processes due to high-energy protons, are the most promising targets for X-ray telescopes. Synchrotron photons emitted by protons can appear in the GeV band, requiring nearby ($<40$ Mpc) hypernovae for detection with GLAST. In addition, air Cherenkov telescopes may be able to detect regenerated TeV photons emitted by electron-positron pairs generated by CMB attenuation of $\pi^0$ decay photons., Comment: Accepted by ApJL

Massive stars end their short lives in spectacular explosions, supernovae, that synthesize new elements and drive galaxy evolution. Throughout history supernovae were discovered chiefly through their delayed optical light, preventing observations in the first moments (hours to days) following the explosion. As a result, the progenitors of some supernovae and the events leading up to their violent demise remain intensely debated. Here we report the serendipitous discovery of a supernova at the time of explosion, marked by an extremely luminous X-ray outburst. We attribute the outburst to the break-out of the supernova shock-wave from the progenitor, and show that the inferred rate of such events agrees with that of all core-collapse supernovae. We forecast that future wide-field X-ray surveys will catch hundreds of supernovae each year in the act of explosion, and thereby enable crucial neutrino and gravitational wave detections that may ultimately unravel the explosion mechanism., Comment: Article to appear in the May 22 issue of Nature. Final version: 21 pages, 5 figures. High resolution figures and Supplementary Information available at http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~alicia/SN2008D/ Note: the results presented in this paper are under embargo by Nature until the publication date

High resolution spectra of 110 selected red giant stars in the globular cluster M15 (NGC 7078) were obtained with Hectochelle at the MMT telescope in 2005 May, 2006 May, and 2006 October. Echelle orders containing Halpha and Ca H & K are used to identify emission and line asymmetries characterizing motions in the extended atmospheres. Emission in Halpha is detected to a luminosity of log (L/L_sun)=2.36, in this very metal deficient cluster, comparable to other studies, suggesting that appearance of emission wings is independent of stellar metallicity. The faintest stars showing Halpha emission appear to lie on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) in M15. A line-bisector technique for Halpha reveals outflowing velocities in all stars brighter than log (L/L_sun)=2.5, and this outflow velocity increases with stellar luminosity, indicating the mass outflow increases smoothly with luminosity. Many stars lying low on the AGB show exceptionally high outflow velocities (up to 10-15 km s^{-1}) and more velocity variability (up to 6-8 km s^{-1}), than red giant branch (RGB) stars of similar apparent magnitude. High velocities in M15 may be related to the low cluster metallicity. Dusty stars identified from Spitzer Space Telescope infrared photometry as AGB stars are confirmed as cluster members by radial velocity measurements, yet their Halpha profiles are similar to those of RGB stars without dust. If substantial mass loss creates the circumstellar shell responsible for infrared emission, such mass loss must be episodic., Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, 8 tables, Accepted in Astronomical Journal; Tables fixed

We have carried out a principal component analysis for 625 gamma-ray bursts in the BATSE 3B catalog for which non-zero values exist for the nine measured variables. This shows that only two out of the three basic quantities of duration, peak flux and fluence are independent, even if this relation is strongly affected by instrumental effects, and these two account for 91.6% of the total information content. The next most important variable is the fluence in the fourth energy channel (at energies above 320 keV). This has a larger variance and is less correlated with the fluences in the remaining three channels than the latter correlate among themselves. Thus a separate consideration of the fourth channel, and increased attention on the related hardness ratio $H43$ appears useful for future studies. The analysis gives the weights for the individual measurements needed to define a single duration, peak flux and fluence. It also shows that, in logarithmic variables, the hardness ratio $H32$ is significantly correlated with peak flux, while $H43$ is significantly anticorrelated with peak flux. The principal component analysis provides a potentially useful tool for estimating the improvement in information content to be achieved by considering alternative variables or performing various corrections on available measurements, Comment: Ap.J., accepted 12/9/97; revised version contains a new appendix, somewhat expanded discussion; latex, aaspp4, 15 pages

The early optical emission of the moderately high redshift ($z=3.08$) GRB 060607A shows a remarkable broad and strong peak with a rapid rise and a relatively slow power-law decay. It is not coincident with the strong early-time flares seen in the X-ray and gamma-ray energy bands. There is weak evidence for variability superposed on this dominant component in several optical bands that can be related to flares in high energy bands. While for a small number of GRBs, well-sampled optical flares have been observed simultaneously with X-ray and gamma ray pulses, GRB 060607A is one of the few cases where the early optical emission shows no significant evidence for correlation with the prompt emission. In this work we first report in detail the broad band observations of this burst by Swift. Then by applying a simple model for the dynamics and the synchrotron radiation of a relativistic shock, we show that the dominant component of the early emissions in optical wavelengths has the same origin as the tail emission produced after the main gamma ray activity. The most plausible explanation for the peak in the optical light curve seems to be the cooling of the prompt after the main collisions, shifting the characteristic synchrotron frequency to the optical bands. It seems that the cooling process requires a steepening of the electron energy distribution and/or a break in this distribution at high energies. The sharp break in the X-ray light curve at few thousands of seconds after the trigger, is not observed in the IR/optical/UV bands, and therefore can not be a jet break. Either the X-ray break is due to a change in the spectrum of the accelerated electrons or the lack of an optical break is due to the presence of a related delayed response component (Abbreviated)., Comment: 17 pages; 9 figures; Accepted for publication in MNRAS

The chemical composition of the ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic rays serves as an important clue for their origin. Recent measurements of the elongation rates by the Pierre Auger Observatory hint at the possible presence of heavy or intermediate mass nuclei in the UHE cosmic rays. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and hypernovae have been suggested as possible sources of the UHE cosmic rays. Here we derive the constraints on the physical conditions under which UHE heavy nuclei, if they are accelerated in these sources, can survive in their intense photon fields. We find that in the GRB external shock and in the hypernova scenarios, UHE nuclei can easily survive photo-disintegration. In the GRB internal shock scenario, UHE nuclei can also survive, provided the dissipation radius and/or the bulk Lorentz factor of the relativistic outflow are relatively large, or if the low-energy self-absorption break in the photon spectrum of the prompt emission occurs above several KeV. In internal shocks and in the other scenarios, intermediate-mass UHE nuclei have a higher probability of survival against photo-disintegration than UHE heavy nuclei such as Fe., Comment: accepted by ApJ, references added, 12 pages, 4 figures, emulateapj style

The predicted thermal flash from SN shock breakout might have been detected for the first time by Swift in GRB 060218/SN 2006aj. The detected thermal X-ray emission in this event implies emergence of a trans-relativistic (TR) SN shock with kinetic energy of E_k>1E49 erg. During TRSN shock breakout, the thermal photons could be "accelerated" by the shock through repeated bulk Compton scattering, forming a nonthermal gamma/X-ray component with dominant energy over thermal one. This mechanism of "photon acceleration" at TRSN shock breakout might also account for gamma-rays in the other similar low-luminosity GRBs, implying that they are atypical GRBs with only TR outflows. TRSNe form a peculiar type of SNe with large kinetic energy, >1E49 erg, in TR ejecta, \Gamma\beta ~2., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figs, talk at Amsterdam 2007 GRB meeting. No figs in the version for the proceedings "070228: The Next Decade of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows", eds. Wijers, R.A.M.J., Kaper, L, and van Eerten, H.J., Elsevier (Amsterdam)

We calculate the GeV spectra of GRB afterglows produced by inverse Compton scattering of the sub-MeV emission of these objects. We improve on earlier treatments by using refined afterglow parameters and new model developments motivated by recent Swift observations. We present time-dependent GeV spectra for standard, constant parameter models, as well as for models with energy injection and with time-varying parameters, for a range of burst parameters. We evaluate the limiting redshift to which such afterglows can be detected by the GLAST LAT, as well as AGILE., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, ApJ, in press

Principal component analysis is a statistical method, which lowers the number of important variables in a data set. The use of this method for the bursts' spectra and afterglows is discussed in this paper. The analysis indicates that three principal components are enough among the eight ones to describe the variablity of the data. The correlation between spectral index alpha and the redshift suggests that the thermal emission component becomes more dominant at larger redshifts., Comment: published in Nuovo Cimento

The origin of the ultrahigh-energy (UHE) cosmic rays (CRs) from the second knee ($\sim6\times10^{17}$eV) above in the CR spectrum is still unknown. Recently, there has been growing evidence that a peculiar type of supernovae, called hypernovae, are associated with sub-energetic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), such as SN1998bw/GRB980425 and SN2003lw/GRB031203. Such hypernovae appear to have high (up to mildly relativistic) velocity ejecta, which may be linked to the sub-energetic GRBs. Assuming a continuous distribution of the kinetic energy of the hypernova ejecta as a function of its velocity $E_k\propto (\Gamma\beta)^{-\alpha}$ with $\alpha\sim 2$, we find that 1) the external shock wave produced by the high velocity ejecta of a hypernova can accelerate protons up to energies as high as $10^{19} {\rm eV}$; 2) the cosmological hypernova rate is sufficient to account for the energy flux above the second knee; and 3) the steeper spectrum of CRs at these energies can arise in these sources. In addition, hypernovae would also give rise to a faint diffuse UHE neutrino flux, due to $p\gamma$ interactions of the UHE CRs with hypernova optical-UV photons., Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D, 6 revtex pages, 1 figure

In recent years increasing evidence has emerged for a thermal component in the gamma- and X-ray spectrum of the prompt emission phase in gamma-ray bursts. The temperature and flux of the thermal component show a characteristic break in the temporal behavior after a few seconds. We show here, that measurements of the temperature and flux of the thermal component at early times (before the break) allow the determination of the values of two of the least restricted fireball model parameters: the size at the base of the flow and the outflow bulk Lorentz factor. Relying on the thermal emission component only, this measurement is insensitive to the inherent uncertainties of previous estimates of the bulk motion Lorentz factor. We give specific examples of the use of this method: for GRB970828 at redshift z=0.9578, we show that the physical size at the base of the flow is r_0 = (2.9+-1.8)*10^8 Y_0^{-3/2} cm and the Lorentz factor of the flow is Gamma = (305\+-28) Y_0^{1/4}, and for GRB990510 at z=1.619, r_0=(1.7+-1.7)*10^8 Y_0^{-3/2} cm and Gamma=(384+-71) Y_0^{1/4}, where Y = 1 Y_0 is the ratio between the total fireball energy and the energy emitted in gamma- rays., Comment: Discussion added on gamma-ray emission efficiency. Accepted for publication in Ap.J. Lett

A scenario in which primeval black holes (PBHs) form at the end of an extended inflationary period is capable of producing, via Hawking radiation, the observed entropy, as well as the observed dark matter density in the form of Planck mass relics. The observed net baryon asymmetry is produced by sphaleron processes in the domain wall surrounding the PBHs as they evaporate around the electroweak transition epoch. The conditions required to satisfy these three observables determines the PBH formation epoch, which can be associated with the end of inflation, at $t\sim 10^{-32}\s$., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure

The recent detection of X-ray flares during the afterglow phase of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) suggests an inner-engine origin, at radii inside the forward shock. There must be inverse Compton (IC) emission arising from such flare photons scattered by forward shock afterglow electrons when they are passing through the forward shock. We find that this IC emission produces high energy gamma-ray flares, which may be detected by AGILE, GLAST and ground-based TeV telescopes. The anisotropic IC scattering between flare photons and forward shock electrons does not affect the total IC component intensity, but cause a time delay of the IC component peak relative to the flare peak. The anisotropic scattering effect may also weaken, to some extent, the suppression effect of the afterglow intensity induced by the enhanced electron cooling due to flare photons. We speculate that this IC component may already have been detected by EGRET from a very strong burst--GRB940217. Future observations by GLAST may help to distinguish whether X-ray flares originate from late central engine activity or from external shocks., Comment: 4 pages, Contributed talk presented at "The First GLAST Symposium", Feb.5-8 2007, Stanford University

The long gamma-ray burst GRB 060714 was observed to exhibit a series of five X-ray flares beginning ~70 s after the burst trigger T0 and continuing until T0 + ~200 s. The first two flares were detected by the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on the Swift satellite, before Swift had slewed to the burst location, while the last three flares were strongly detected by the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) but only weakly detected by the BAT. This burst provides an unusual opportunity to track a complete sequence of flares over a wide energy range. The flares were very similar in their light curve morphology, showing power-law rise and fall components, and in most cases significant sub-structure. The flares also showed strong evolution with time, both spectrally and temporally. The small time scale and large amplitude variability observed are incompatible with an external shock origin for the flares, and support instead late time sporadic activity either of the central source or of localized dissipation events within the outflow. We show that the flares in GRB 060714 cannot be the result of internal shocks in which the contrast in the Lorentz factor of the colliding shells is very small, and that this mechanism faces serious difficulties in most Swift GRBs. The morphological similarity of the flares and the prompt emission and the gradual and continual evolution of the flares with time makes it difficult and arbitrary to draw a dividing line between the prompt emission and the flares., Comment: Submitted to ApJ

Precursor emission has been observed in a non-negligible fraction of gamma-ray bursts.The time gap between the precursor and the main burst extends in some case up to hundreds of seconds, such as in GRB041219A, GRB050820A and GRB060124. Both the origin of the precursor and the large value of the time gap are controversial. Here we investigate the maximum possible time gaps arising from the jet propagation inside the progenitor star, in models which assume that the precursor is produced by the jet bow shock or the cocoon breaking out of the progenitor. Due to the pressure drop ahead of the jet head after it reaches the stellar surface, a rarefaction wave propagates back into the jet at the sound speed, which re-accelerates the jet to a relativistic velocity and therefore limits the gap period to within about ten seconds. This scenario therefore cannot explain gaps which are hundreds of seconds long. Instead, we ascribe such long time gaps to the behavior of the central engine, and suggest a fallback collapsar scenario for these bursts. In this scenario, the precursor is produced by a weak jet formed during the initial core collapse, possibly related to MHD processes associated with a short-lived proto-neutron star, while the main burst is produced by a stronger jet fed by fallback accretion onto the black hole resulting from the collapse of the neutron star. We have examined the propagation times of the weak precursor jet through the stellar progenitor. We find that the initial weak jet can break out of the progenitor in a time less than ten seconds (a typical precursor duration) provided that it has a moderately high relativistic Lorentz factor \Gamma>=10 (abridged)., Comment: 8 pages, accepted by ApJ, this version contains significantly expanded discussion and an additional figure, conclusions unchanged

We show that the prompt and afterglow X-ray emission of GRB060218, as well as its early (t<=1 d) optical-UV emission, can be explained by a model in which a radiation- mediated shock propagates through a compact progenitor star into a dense wind. The prompt thermal X-ray emission is produced in this model as the mildly relativistic shock, v/c=0.85 carrying few x 10^49 erg, reaches the wind (Thomson) photosphere, where the post-shock thermal radiation is released and the shock becomes collisionless. Adopting this interpretation of the thermal X-ray emission, a subsequent X-ray afterglow is predicted, due to synchrotron emission and inverse-Compton scattering of SN UV photons by electrons accelerated in the collisionless shock. Early optical-UV emission is also predicted, due to the cooling of the outer \delta M ~10^{-3} M_sun envelope of the star, which was heated to high temperature during shock passage. The observed X-ray afterglow and the early optical-UV emission are both consistent with those expected in this model. Detailed analysis of the early optical-UV emission may provide detailed constraints on the density distribution near the stellar surface., Comment: Discussion of several points expanded, 1 citation corrected; accepted to ApJ

The origin of dark bursts - i.e. that have no observed afterglows in X-ray, optical/NIR and radio ranges - is unclear yet. Different possibilities - instrumental biases, very high redshifts, extinction in the host galaxies - are discussed and shown to be important. On the other hand, the dark bursts should not form a new subgroup of long gamma-ray bursts themselves., Comment: published in Nuovo Cimento

Gamma-ray bursts can be divided into three groups ("short", "intermediate", "long") with respect to their durations. The third type of gamma-ray bursts - as known - has the intermediate duration. We show that the intermediate group is the softest one. An anticorrelation between the hardness and the duration is found for this subclass in contrast to the short and long groups., Comment: In Sixteenth Maryland Astrophysics Conference

Aims: Detect tertiary components of close binaries from spectroscopy and light curve modelling; investigate light-travel time effect and the possibility of magnetic activity cycles; measure mass-ratios for unstudied systems and derive absolute parameters. Methods: We carried out new photometric and spectroscopic observations of five bright (V<10.5 mag) close eclipsing binaries, predominantly in the southern skies. We obtained full Johnson BV light curves, which were modelled with the Wilson-Devinney code. Radial velocities were measured with the cross-correlation method using IAU radial velocity standards as spectral templates. Period changes were studied with the O-C method, utilising published epochs of minimum light (XY Leo) and ASAS photometry (VZ Lib). Results: For three objects (DX Tuc, QY Hya, V870 Ara), absolute parameters have been determined for the first time. We detect spectroscopically the tertiary components in XY Leo, VZ Lib and discover one in QY Hya. For XY Leo we update the light-time effect parameters and detect a secondary periodicity of about 5100 d in the O$-$C diagram that may hint about the existence of short-period magnetic cycles. A combination of recent photometric data shows that the orbital period of the tertiary star in VZ Lib is likely to be over 1500 d. QY Hya is a semi-detached X-ray active binary in a triple system with K and M-type components, while V870 Ara is a contact binary with the third smallest spectroscopic mass-ratio for a W UMa star to date (q=0.082+/-0.030). This small mass-ratio, being close to the theoretical minimum for contact binaries, suggests that V870 Ara has the potential of constraining evolutionary scenarios of binary mergers. The inferred distances to these systems are compatible with the Hipparcos parallaxes., Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&A (02/01/2007)

GRB 050904 at redshift z=6.29, discovered and observed by Swift and with spectroscopic redshift from the Subaru telescope, is the first gamma-ray burst to be identified from beyond the epoch of reionization. Since the progenitors of long gamma-ray bursts have been identified as massive stars, this event offers a unique opportunity to investigate star formation environments at this epoch. Apart from its record redshift, the burst is remarkable in two respects: first, it exhibits fast-evolving X-ray and optical flares that peak simultaneously at t~470 s in the observer frame, and may thus originate in the same emission region; and second, its afterglow exhibits an accelerated decay in the near-infrared (NIR) from t~10^4 s to t~3 10^4 s after the burst, coincident with repeated and energetic X-ray flaring activity. We make a complete analysis of available X-ray, NIR, and radio observations, utilizing afterglow models that incorporate a range of physical effects not previously considered for this or any other GRB afterglow, and quantifying our model uncertainties in detail via Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis. In the process, we explore the possibility that the early optical and X-ray flare is due to synchrotron and inverse Compton emission from the reverse shock regions of the outflow. We suggest that the period of accelerated decay in the NIR may be due to suppression of synchrotron radiation by inverse Compton interaction of X-ray flare photons with electrons in the forward shock; a subsequent interval of slow decay would then be due to a progressive decline in this suppression. The range of acceptable models demonstrates that the kinetic energy and circumburst density of GRB 050904 are well above the typical values found for low-redshift GRBs., Comment: 45 pages, 7 figures, and ApJ accepted. Revised version, minor modifications and 1 extra figure

The absence of a supernova accompanying the nearby long GRB 060614 poses a great puzzle about the progenitor of this event and challenges the current GRB classification scheme. This burst displays a short-hard emission episode followed by extended soft emission with strong spectral evolution. Noticing that this burst has an isotropic gamma-ray energy only ~8 times that of GRB 050724, a good candidate of merger-type short GRBs, we generate a ``pseudo'' burst that is ~8 times less energetic than GRB 060614 based on the spectral properties of GRB 060614 and the Ep ~ Eiso^{1/2} (Amati) relation. We find that this pseudo-burst would have been detected by BATSE as a marginal short-duration GRB, and would have properties in the Swift BAT and XRT bands similar to GRB 050724. This suggests that GRB 060614 is likely a more intense event in the traditional short-hard GRB category as would be detected by BATSE. Events like GRB 060614 that seem to defy the traditional short vs. long classification of GRBs may require modification of our classification terminology for GRBs. By analogy with supernova classifications, we suggest that GRBs be classified into Type I (typically short and associated with old populations) and Type II (typically long and associated with young populations). We propose that GRB 060614 belongs to Type I, and predict that similar events will be detected in elliptical galaxies., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to appear in ApJ Letters

We report the results of the Swift and XMM observations of the Swift-discovered long Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 060729 ($T_{90}$=115s). The afterglow of this burst was exceptionally bright in X-rays as well as at UV/Optical wavelengths showing an unusually long slow decay phase ($\alpha$=0.14\plm0.02) suggesting a larger energy injection phase at early times than in other bursts. The X-ray light curve displays a break at about 60 ks after the burst. The X-ray decay slope after the break is $\alpha$=1.29\plm0.03. Up to 125 days after the burst we do not detect a jet break, suggesting that the jet opening angle is larger than 28 degrees. In the first 2 minutes after the burst (rest frame) the X-ray spectrum of the burst changed dramatically from a hard X-ray spectrum to a very soft one. We find that the X-ray spectra at this early phase can all be fitted by an absorbed single power law model or alternatively by a blackbody plus power law model. The power law fits show that the X-ray spectrum becomes steeper while the absorption column density decreases. In Swift's UV/Optical telescope the afterglow was clearly detected up to 9 days after the burst in all 6 filters and even longer in some of the UV filters with the latest detection in the UVW1 31 days after the burst. A break at about 50 ks is clearly detected in all 6 UVOT filters from a shallow decay slope of about 0.3 and a steeper decay slope of 1.3. In addition to the \swift observations we also present and discuss the results from a 61 ks ToO observation by XMM. (Abriviated), Comment: Accepted to be published in the Astrophysical Journal, 28 pages, 10 figures

GRB061007 is the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) to be detected by Swift and is accompanied by an exceptionally luminous afterglow that had a V-band magnitude <11.1 at 80s after the prompt emission. From the start of the Swift observations the afterglow decayed as a power law with a slope of \alpha_X=1.66+/-0.01 in the X-ray and \alpha_{opt}=1.64+/-0.01 in the UV/optical, up to the point that it was no longer detected above background in the optical or X-ray bands. The brightness of this GRB and the similarity in the decay rate of the X-ray, optical and gamma-ray emission from 100s after the trigger distinguish this burst from others and present a challenge to the fireball model. The lack of a cooling or jet break in the afterglow up to \~10^5s constrains any model that can produce the large luminosity observed in GRB061007, which we found to require either an excessively large kinetic energy or highly collimated outflow. Analysis of the multi-wavelength spectral and high-resolution temporal data taken with Swift suggest an early time jet-break to be a more plausible scenario. This must have occurred within 80s of the prompt emission, which places an upper limit on the jet opening angle of \theta_j=0.8deg. Such a highly collimated outflow resolves the energy budget problem presented in a spherical emission model, reducing the isotropic equivalent energy of this burst to E_{\gamma}^{corr}=10^{50} ergs; consistent with other GRBs., Comment: Accepted by MNRAS, 11 pages, 3 figures

auto-ignore This paper has been withdrawn by the authors due to dublicate submission. To download the paper please go to astro-ph/0611081, Comment: This paper has been withdrawn

Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are known to come in two duration classes, separated at ~2 s. Long bursts originate from star forming regions in galaxies, have accompanying supernovae (SNe) when near enough to observe and are likely caused by massive-star collapsars. Recent observations show that short bursts originate in regions within their host galaxies with lower star formation rates consistent with binary neutron star (NS) or NS - black hole (BH) mergers. Moreover, although their hosts are predominantly nearby galaxies, no SNe have been so far associated with short GRBs. We report here on the bright, nearby GRB 060614 that does not fit in either class. Its ~102 s duration groups it with long GRBs, while its temporal lag and peak luminosity fall entirely within the short GRB subclass. Moreover, very deep optical observations exclude an accompanying supernova, similar to short GRBs. This combination of a long duration event without accompanying SN poses a challenge to both a collapsar and merging NS interpretation and opens the door on a new GRB classification scheme that straddles both long and short bursts., Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted in Nature

Swift discovered the high redshift (z=6.29) GRB050904 with the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and began observing with its narrow field instruments 161 s after the burst onset. This gamma-ray burst is the most distant cosmic explosion ever observed. Because of its high redshift, the X-ray Telescope (XRT) and BAT simultaneous observations provide 4 orders of magnitude of spectral coverage (0.2-150 keV; 1.4-1090 keV in the source rest frame) at a very early source-frame time (22 s). GRB050904 was a long, multi-peaked, bright GRB with strong variability during its entire evolution. The light curve observed by the XRT is characterized by the presence of a long flaring activity lasting up to 1-2 hours after the burst onset in the burst rest frame, with no evidence of a smooth power-law decay following the prompt emission as seen in other GRBs. However, the BAT tail extrapolated to the XRT band joins the XRT early light curve and the overall behavior resembles that of a very long GRB prompt. The spectral energy distribution softens with time, with the photon index decreasing from -1.2 during the BAT observation to -1.9 at the end of the XRT observation. The dips of the late X-ray flares may be consistent with an underlying X-ray emission arising from the forward shock and with the properties of the optical afterglow reported by Tagliaferri et al. (2005b). We interpret the BAT and XRT data as a single continuous observation of the prompt emission from a very long GRB. The peculiarities observed in GRB050904 could be due to its origin within one of the first star-forming regions in the Universe; very low metallicities of the progenitor at these epochs may provide an explanation., Comment: 9 pages, 2 table, 6 figures, accepted for publication on A&A

We systematically analyze the prompt emission and the early afterglow data of a sample of 31 GRBs detected by {\em Swift} before September 2005, and estimate the GRB radiative efficiency. BAT's narrow band inhibits a precise determination of the GRB spectral parameters, and we have developed a method to estimate these parameters with the hardness ratio information. The shallow decay component commonly existing in early X-ray afterglows, if interpreted as continuous energy injection in the external shock, suggests that the GRB efficiency previously derived from the late-time X-ray data were not reliable. We calculate two radiative efficiencies using the afterglow kinetic energy E_K derived at the putative deceleration time t_{dec}) and at the break time (t_b) when the energy injection phase ends, respectively. At t_b XRFs appear to be less efficient than normal GRBs. However, when we analyze the data at t_{dec} XRFs are found to be as efficient as GRBs. Short GRBs have similar radiative efficiencies to long GRBs despite of their different progenitors. Twenty-two bursts in the sample are identified to have the afterglow cooling frequency below the X-ray band. Assuming \epsilon_e = 0.1, we find \eta_\gamma(t_b) usually <10% and \eta_\gamma (t_{dec}) varying from a few percents to > 90%. Nine GRBs in the sample have the afterglow cooling frequency above the X-ray band for a very long time. This suggests a very small \epsilon_B and/or a very low ambient density n., Comment: 43 pages, 10 figures, ApJ, in press

We review the fireball shock model of gamma-ray burst prompt and early afterglow emission in light of rapid follow-up measurements made and enabled by the multi-wavelength Swift satellite. These observations are leading to a reappraisal and expansion of the previous standard view of the GRB and its fireball. New information on the behavior of the burst and afterglow on minutes to hour timescales has led, among other results, to the discovery and follow-up of short GRB afterglows, the opening up of the z>6 redshift range, and the first prompt multi-wavelength observations of a long GRB-supernova. We discuss the salient observational results and some associated theoretical issues., Comment: 23 pages. Published in the New Journal of Physics Focus Issue, "Focus on Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Swift Era" (Eds. D. H. Hartmann, C. D. Dermer & J. Greiner). V2: Minor changes