Search

A link between magnetars and fast radio burst (FRB) sources has finally been established. In this context, one of the open issues is whether/which sources of extra galactic FRBs exhibit X/gamma-ray outbursts and whether it is correlated with radio activity. We aim to constrain possible X/gamma-ray burst activity from one of the nearest extragalactic FRB sources currently known over a broad energy range, by looking for bursts over a range of timescales and energies that are compatible with being powerful flares from extragalactic magnetars. We followed up the as-yet nearest extragalactic FRB source at a mere 149 Mpc distance, the periodic repeater FRB180916.J0158+65, during the active phase on February 4-7, 2020, with the Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT). Taking advantage of the combination of broad band, large effective area, and several independent detectors available, we searched for bursts over a set of timescales from 1 ms to 1.024 s with a sensitive algorithm, that had previously been characterised and optimised. Moreover, through simulations we studied the sensitivity of our technique in the released energy-duration phase space for a set of synthetic flares and assuming different energy spectra. We constrain the possible occurrence of flares in the 1-100 keV energy band to E, 10 pages, 3 figures, accepted by A&A

We investigate the absorption and emission features in observations of GX 301-2 detected with Insight-HXMT/LE in 2017-2019. At different orbital phases, we found prominent Fe Kalpha, Kbeta and Ni Kalpha lines, as well as Compton shoulders and Fe K-shell absorption edges. These features are due to the X-ray reprocessing caused by the interaction between the radiation from the source and surrounding accretion material. According to the ratio of iron lines Kalpha and Kbeta, we infer the accretion material is in a low ionisation state. We find an orbital-dependent local absorption column density, which has a large value and strong variability around the periastron. We explain its variability as a result of inhomogeneities of the accretion environment and/or instabilities of accretion processes. In addition, the variable local column density is correlated with the equivalent width of the iron Kalpha lines throughout the orbit, which suggests that the accretion material near the neutron star is spherically distributed., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

The giant flares of soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) have long been proposed to contribute to at least a subsample of the observed short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In this paper, we perform a comprehensive analysis of the high-energy data of the recent bright short GRB 200415A, which was located close to the Sculptor galaxy. Our results suggest that a magnetar giant flare provides the most natural explanation for most observational properties of GRB 200415A, including its location, temporal and spectral features, energy, statistical correlations, and high-energy emissions. On the other hand, the compact star merger GRB model is found to have difficulty reproducing such an event in a nearby distance. Future detections and follow-up observations of similar events are essential to firmly establish the connection between SGR giant flares and a subsample of nearby short GRBs., Comment: ApJ published in August 2020 (Yang et al. 2020, ApJ, 899, 106)

Despite over 50 years of research, many open questions remain about the origin and nature of GRBs. Polarization measurements of the prompt emission of these extreme phenomena have long been thought to be the key to answering a range of these questions. The POLAR detector was designed to produce the first set of detailed and reliable polarization measurements in an energy range of approximately 50-500 keV. During late 2016 and early 2017, POLAR detected a total of 55 GRBs. Analysis results of 5 of these GRBs have been reported in the past. The results were found to be consistent with a low or unpolarized flux. However, previous reports by other collaborations found high levels of polarization. We study the polarization for all the 14 GRBs observed by POLAR for which statistically robust inferences are possible. Additionally, time-resolved polarization studies are performed on GRBs with sufficient apparent flux. A publicly available polarization analysis tool, developed within the 3ML framework, was used to produce statistically robust results. The method allows to combine spectral and polarimetric data from POLAR with spectral data from the Fermi GBM and Swift-BAT to jointly model the spectral and polarimetric parameters. The time integrated analysis finds all results to be compatible with a low or zero polarization with the caveat that, when time-resolved analysis is possible within individual pulses, we observe moderate polarization with a rapidly changing polarization angle. Thus, time-integrated polarization results, while pointing to lower polarization are potentially an artifact of summing over the changing polarization signal and thus, washing out the true moderate polarization. Therefore, we caution against over interpretation of any time-integrated results and encourage one to wait for more detailed polarization measurements from forthcoming missions such as POLAR-2 and LEAP., Comment: 43 pages, 78 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A

Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) is a pair of small satellites designed to monitor the Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), some of them are possibly associated with Gravitational Wave Events (GWE). Each satellite includes twenty-five Gamma-Ray Detectors (GRDs) and eight Charged Particle Detectors (CPDs). GRDs are used to detect X-rays and gamma-rays to realize the observation and location of significant events such as GRBs or other X-ray Bursts (XRBs). Meanwhile, CPDs are used to help GRDs distinguish between GRBs and charged particle events (the majority are electrons) in space. In this paper, we present the electron calibration results of the CPDs, including the energy linearity, energy resolution, angular response, detection efficiency and response in high count rates. Moreover, we use the calibration spectra to verify and correct the mass model of CPD in Geant4 simulation. After the correction, the simulated spectra are in good agreement with the measurements.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at high redshifts are expected to be gravitationally lensed by objects of different mass scales. Besides a single recent claim, no lensed GRB has been detected so far by using the gamma-ray data only. In this paper, we suggest that the multi-band afterglow data might be an efficient way to search for lensed GRB events. Using the standard afterglow model we calculate the characteristics of the lensed afterglow lightcurves under the assumption of two popular analytic lens models: point mass and Singular Isothermal Sphere (SIS) model. In particular, when different lensed images cannot be resolved, their signals would be superimposed together with a given time delay. In this case, the X-ray afterglows are likely to contain several X-ray flares of similar width in linear scale and similar spectrum, and the optical afterglow lightcurve will show rebrightening signatures. Since the lightcurves from the image arriving later would be compressed and deformed in the logarithmic time scale, the larger time delay (i.e. the larger mass of the lens), the easier is to identify the lensing effect. We analyzed the archival data of optical afterglows and found one potential candidate of the lensed GRB (130831A) with time delay $\sim$500 s, however, observations of this event in gamma-ray and X-ray band seem not to support the lensing hypothesis. In the future, with the cooperation of the all-sky monitoring gamma-ray detectors and multi-band sky survey projects, our method proposed in this paper would be more efficient in searching for strongly lensed GRBs., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

We report on analysis of observations of the bright transient X-ray pulsar \src obtained during its 2017-2018 giant outburst with Insight-HXMT, \emph{NuSTAR}, and \textit{Swift} observatories. We focus on the discovery of a sharp state transition of the timing and spectral properties of the source at super-Eddington accretion rates, which we associate with the transition of the accretion disk to a radiation pressure dominated (RPD) state, the first ever directly observed for magnetized neutron star. This transition occurs at slightly higher luminosity compared to already reported transition of the source from sub- to super-critical accretion regime associate with onset of an accretion column. We argue that this scenario can only be realized for comparatively weakly magnetized neutron star, not dissimilar to other ultra-luminous X-ray pulsars (ULPs), which accrete at similar rates. Further evidence for this conclusion is provided by the non-detection of the transition to the propeller state in quiescence which strongly implies compact magnetosphere and thus rules out magnetar-like fields., Submitted to MNRAS

We present a study of timing properties of the accreting pulsar 2S 1417-624 observed during its 2018 outburst, based on Swift/BAT, Fermi/GBM, Insight-HXMT and NICER observations. We report a dramatic change of the pulse profiles with luminosity. The morphology of the profile in the range 0.2-10.0keV switches from double to triple peaks at $\sim2.5$ $\rm \times 10^{37}{\it D}_{10}^2\ erg\ s^{-1}$ and from triple to quadruple peaks at $\sim7$ $\rm \times 10^{37}{\it D}_{10}^2\ erg\ s^{-1}$. The profile at high energies (25-100keV) shows significant evolutions as well. We explain this phenomenon according to existing theoretical models. We argue that the first change is related to the transition from the sub to the super-critical accretion regime, while the second to the transition of the accretion disc from the gas-dominated to the radiation pressure-dominated state. Considering the spin-up as well due to the accretion torque, this interpretation allows to estimate the magnetic field self-consistently at $\sim7\times 10^{12}$G., 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Gamma-ray bursts are the strongest explosions in the Universe since the Big Bang, believed to be produced either in forming black holes at the end of massive star evolution or merging of compact objects. Spectral and timing properties of gamma-ray bursts suggest that the observed bright gamma-rays are produced in the most relativistic jets in the Universe; however, the physical properties, especially the structure and magnetic topologies in the jets are still not well known, despite several decades of studies. It is widely believed that precise measurements of the polarization properties of gamma-ray bursts should provide crucial information on the highly relativistic jets. As a result there have been many reports of gamma-ray burst polarization measurements with diverse results, see, however many such measurements suffered from substantial uncertainties, mostly systematic. After the first successful measurements by the GAP and COSI instruments, here we report a statistically meaningful sample of precise polarization measurements, obtained with the dedicated gamma-ray burst polarimeter, POLAR onboard China's Tiangong-2 spacelab. Our results suggest that the gamma-ray emission is at most polarized at a level lower than some popular models have predicted; although our results also show intrapulse evolution of the polarization angle. This indicates that the low polarization degrees could be due to an evolving polarization angle during a gamma-ray burst., 34 pages, 15 figures (16 pages and 3 figures without supplementary information). Accepted for publication in Nature Astronomy, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41550-018-0664-0

POLAR is a compact space-borne detector initially designed to measure the polarization of hard X-rays emitted from Gamma-Ray Bursts in the energy range 50-500keV. This instrument was launched successfully onboard the Chinese space laboratory Tiangong-2 (TG-2) on 2016 September 15. After being switched on a few days later, tens of gigabytes of raw detection data were produced in-orbit by POLAR and transferred to the ground every day. Before the launch date, a full pipeline and related software were designed and developed for the purpose of quickly pre-processing all the raw data from POLAR, which include both science data and engineering data, then to generate the high level scientific data products that are suitable for later science analysis. This pipeline has been successfully applied for use by the POLAR Science Data Center in the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) after POLAR was launched and switched on. A detailed introduction to the pipeline and some of the core relevant algorithms are presented in this paper., 15 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables; Preprint accepted by RAA

In this paper we present the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission - eXTP. eXTP is a space science mission designed to study fundamental physics under extreme conditions of density, gravity and magnetism. The mission aims at determining the equation of state of matter at supra-nuclear density, measuring effects of QED, and understanding the dynamics of matter in strong-field gravity. In addition to investigating fundamental physics, eXTP will be a very powerful observatory for astrophysics that will provide observations of unprecedented quality on a variety of galactic and extragalactic objects. In particular, its wide field monitoring capabilities will be highly instrumental to detect the electro-magnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources. The paper provides a detailed description of: (1) the technological and technical aspects, and the expected performance of the instruments of the scientific payload; (2) the elements and functions of the mission, from the spacecraft to the ground segment., Accepted for publication on Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. (2019)

The Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope HXMT or also dubbed as Insight HXMT is China s first astronomical satellite . It was launched on 15 th June 2017 in JiuQuan, China and is currently in service smoothly. It was designed to perform point ing , scan ning and gamma ray burst (GRB) observations and , based on the Direct Demodulation Method (DDM), the image of the scanned sky region can be reconstructed. Here we introduce the mission and its progresses in aspects of payload, core sciences, ground calibration/facility , ground segment, data archive, software, in orbit performance, calibration, background model, observations and preliminary results ., Comment: published in Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 10699, id. 106991U 22 pp. (2018)

The recently discovered neutron star transient Swift J0243.6+6124 has been monitored by {\it the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope} ({\it Insight-\rm HXMT). Based on the obtained data, we investigate the broadband spectrum of the source throughout the outburst. We estimate the broadband flux of the source and search for possible cyclotron line in the broadband spectrum. No evidence of line-like features is, however, found up to $\rm 150~keV$. In the absence of any cyclotron line in its energy spectrum, we estimate the magnetic field of the source based on the observed spin evolution of the neutron star by applying two accretion torque models. In both cases, we get consistent results with $B\rm \sim 10^{13}~G$, $D\rm \sim 6~kpc$ and peak luminosity of $\rm >10^{39}~erg~s^{-1}$ which makes the source the first Galactic ultraluminous X-ray source hosting a neutron star., published

We present the analysis of the brightest flare that was recorded in the \emph{Insight}-HMXT data set, in a broad energy range (2$-$200 keV) from the microquasar GRS~1915+105 during an unusual low-luminosity state. This flare was detected by \emph{Insight}-HXMT among a series of flares during 2 June 2019 UTC 16:37:06 to 20:11:36, with a 2-200 keV luminosity of 3.4$-$7.27$\times10^{38}$ erg s$^{-1}$. Basing on the broad-band spectral analysis, we find that the flare spectrum shows different behaviors during bright and faint epochs. The spectrum of the flare can be fitted with a model dominated by a power-law component. Additional components show up in the bright epoch with a hard tail and in the faint epoch with an absorption line $\sim$ 6.78 keV. The reflection component of the latter is consistent with an inner disk radius $\sim$ 5 times larger than that of the former. These results on the giant flare during the "unusual" low-luminosity state of GRS~1915+105 may suggest that the source experiences a possible fast transition from a jet-dominated state to a wind-dominated state. We speculate that the evolving accretion disk and the large-scale magnetic field may play important roles in this peculiar huge flare.

The direct detection of gravitational waves has started a new era of gravitational wave astronomy. As an important method for studying the counterparts of gravitational waves, the observation and search of the multi-wavelength radiation of the electromagnetic counterpart of gravitational waves has become the research focus in the field of astronomy. With the advancement of gravitational wave detectors, the number of gravitational wave samples has dramatically increased and the detection of gravitational wave electromagnetic counterparts has become very promising. The Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) satellite is a full-sky monitoring telescope designed for detecting high-energy electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events. The main reason for designing a scientific application system of GECAM satellites, which is proposed and designed with an emphasis on discovery, is to ensure the scientific operation of the payload of satellites and achieve the production, storage, processing, calibration, release, and analysis of scientific data. It is also designed to provide technical support and services to scientific users. Based on the exploration and research of the gravitational wave electromagnetic counterpart, this article introduces an innovative monitoring method design of the GECAM scientific application system for the gravitational electromagnetic counterpart, namely, the scheme design of the GECAM scientific application system. The design covers system architecture, interface control, main technical processes, functional composition, and software planning and design. The GECAM satellite is scheduled for launch by the end of 2020. By then, the scientific application system will be able to support the satellite’s in-orbit scientific operation and research.

The Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) is designed to detect gravitational wave gamma-ray bursts and other high-energy transient sources in the energy range of 6 keV–5 MeV. It has the characteristics of all-sky field of view, high sensitivity, good positioning accuracy and wide band coverage. The mission consists of two satellites with each containing 25 gamma-ray detectors (GRD) and 8 charged particle detectors. In this paper, the energy response matrix and in-flight background of each GECAM detector are obtained by Geant4 simulation. The simulation results show that the GECAM has stronger observation ability than the Fermi/GBM in low-energy range. The average in-flight background of a single GRD is about 800 cps, and there are three characteristic peaks that can be used for on-orbit calibration.

The Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) data analysis is of great importance for the research on Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM); therefore, a user-friendly software tool that covers all the requirements on GRB data analysis has been developed for users. In this paper, the framework and architectural design of GRB data analysis tools software has been described. Meanwhile, details design including the graphical user interface and command line interface were introduced, as well as its installation. The core algorithms of the GRB data analysis were clarified and outlined, including background analysis, calculations on statistical significance, duration and peak flux in given time scale of light curve, fit for deposited energy spectrum, the calculation for the association of GRBs and external trigger event, and a trigger classifier based on Native Bayesian Classification, which offers a rationale and sample for the forward GRB data analysis in GECAM.

Ultra-long gamma-ray bursts (ULGRBs) are special gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) lasting for several hours. However, their released energy is comparable with that of typical long GRBs. The observed flux of ULGRBs is typically low, making them hard to detect, and therefore, only a small sample of ULGRBs have been collected. Observationally, it remains a question of whether ULGRBs are a new population or just a tail distribution of long GRBs. Ultra-soft gamma-ray bursts (USGRBs) refer to another type of special GRBs with soft energy spectra. USGRBs include X-ray flashes (XRFs) and X-ray rich GRBs (XRRs). In this paper, we first review the observations and theoretical studies of ULGRBs and USGRBs and discuss their possible explosion mechanisms and progenitor models. We then consider the Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM), which has some advantages in observing ULGRBs and USGRBs. The GECAM has a full-sky FOV, high sensitivity, good positioning accuracy, extensive energy range coverage (6 keV–5 MeV), and lower energy threshold, making it ideal to observe ULGRBs and USGRBs. Based on the provided GECAM response matrix and background simulation data, we simulate the energy spectrum of typical ULGRB (GRB 130925A) and USGRB (XRR 050525A). We then compare those spectra with those observed by Fermi/GBM and Swift/BAT. We found that the GECAM can provide a more accurate energy spectrum. Furthermore, we also discuss the detection rate of ULGRBs and USGRBs observed by GECAM. We found that GECAM should detect ~20 ULGRBs, ~50 XRFs, and ~300 XRRs per year.

Magnetars are a group of very young neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields. They provide a unique laboratory for discovering and testing physics in extreme conditions. Magnetars exhibit relatively slow rotation compared with other young pulsars, and they undergo fast spin down. Both properties suggest the existence of a very strong dipole magnetic field, of the order of 1014 G. Including candidates, there are currently 29 known magnetars. They are discovered by detecting persistent/transient X-ray emission or soft gamma-ray bursts or flares. In general, the magnetar model can explain energetic phenomena associated with the strong magnetic field. However, many puzzles of magnetars remain: the energy budget of a burst-active period, the connection between the burst or flares and the outburst or glitches in the persistent emission, and the evolution between magnetars and other neutron stars. Additional surprises come with the discovery of each new source. In order to answer these questions, a gamma-ray burst monitor with a full-sky field of view and an ability to locate a burst with adequate precision is required. The Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) mission consists of two satellites operating at opposite ends of the diameter of a near-Earth orbit. This design enables the field of view to cover the entire sky. Moreover, about 40% of the sky is monitored by both satellites at the same time. Localization of bursts can thus be improved by triangulation between the two satellites. From simulations, a typical short burst from a magnetar can be located to within a region that can be covered by about six pointed observations with X-ray telescopes (e.g., the XMM-Newton). The localization can be improved even further if the burst is also detected by other gamma-ray monitors (e.g., the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope or the Burst Alert Telescope on the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory). Therefore, GECAM is a powerful instrument for discovering new magnetars; fully recording the burst-active episodes of magnetars; attempting to detect soft gamma-ray outbursts of magnetar persistent emission and studying their timing properties; and for guiding multi-wavelength follow-up observations. All these are important observational goals that can help us to understand the physical properties of magnetars and the new physics that underlies them.

The Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) monitors gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) coincident with gravitational wave events over the whole sky. It also monitors other burst events, such as the high-energy radiation of fast radio bursts, various GRBs, and magnetar bursts. GECAM can measure the energy spectra, light curves, and location of all kinds of bursts. GECAM consists of two small satellites which operate in the same low earth orbit but in opposite geocentric directions. To obtain an all-sky field of view, the two satellites operate in opposite orbital phases. The GECAM payload includes two kinds of detectors: charged particle detector (CPD) and gamma-ray detector (GRD). Each GRD module consists of a LaBr3:Ce scintillator and a SiPM array, and its gamma-ray detection range is 5 keV–5 MeV. GECAM retrieves the locations of events such as GRBs through analyzing the data of the multiple GRDs on both satellites. Meanwhile, the CPD consists of a plastic scintillator and a SiPM array that detects charged particles of energies from 300 keV to 5 MeV. The GECAM distinguishes the charged particle burst events in space by jointly analyzing the GRD and CPD data. The payload electronic box (EBOX) provides in-flight trigger and burst localization. The trigger and burst location data are transmitted by a BeiDou Short Message system, which allows GECAM to guide other telescopes to do follow-up observations.

The Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) is proposed to explore the significant opportunity of the gravitational wave multi-messenger astronomy by monitoring the gravitational wave high-energy electromagnetic counterpart in all-sky. Based on the satellite science and observation requirements, we propose the design philosophy and schemes of the GECAM satellite system, including the system configuration and main technical parameters, observation requirement analysis, and satellite orbit, attitude, and operation mode design. Further, we summarize the technical characteristics and solutions of satellites, including the satellites all-sky field of view burst source location technology, multi-constraint satellite pointing design, the real-time downlink telemetry technology of trigger information based on the Beidou-3 global position reporting system, the integrated design electronics with low cost and high reliability, and the electromagnetic compatibility design of highly intensive satellite. The GECAM satellite can achieve an all-sky field of view, high sensitivity, good positioning accuracy, and wide energy coverage through system design and optimization. Also, it has the capability of on-orbit trigger positioning and quasi-real-time downlink of detection alerts, satisfying the comprehensive requirements of the detection of gravitational wave gamma-ray bursts and other high-energy transient sources.

The Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) , composed of two small satellites, is a new mission to monitor the Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) coincident with Gravitational Wave (GW) events with a FOV of 100% all-sky.Each GECAM satellite detects and localizes GRBs using 25 compact and novel Gamma-Ray Detectors (GRDs) in 6 keV-5 MeV. Each GRD module is comprised of LaBr3:Ce scintillator, SiPM array and preamplifier. A large dynamic range of GRD is achieved by the high gain and low gain channels of the preamplifier. The energy response of GRD prototype was evaluated using radioactive sources in the range of 5.9-1332.5 keV. A energy resolution of 5.3% at 662 keV was determined from the 137Cs pulse height spectra, which meets the GECAM requirement (< 8% at 662 keV). Energy to channel conversion was evaluated and a nonlinearity correction was performed to reduce the residuals (< 1.5%). Also, a Geant4-based simulated in-flight background and a measured GRD LaBr3:Ce intrinsic activity were used to evaluate the capability of in-flight calibration. These results demonstrate the design of GRD., 17 pages, 9 figures

Gravitational wave burst high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) is specially designed for detecting high-energy electromagnetic counterpart that generates by the gravitational wave source. GECAM consists of two micro-satellites which make a straight line with the Earth to enlarge the field of view to all-sky. The electromagnetic radiation may distribute in a wide range from radio-wave to high-energy γ-Rays. A novel gamma-ray detector which is made up of the 3 in. LaBr3 crystal and the large area SiPM to detect rays from 6 keV to 2000 keV. The detector performances, include dynamic range, linear response, energy-resolution and uniformity, will be discussed in this paper.

14 pages, 8 figures. The paper has been accepted by Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics (RAA), Rapid response and short time latency are very important for Time Domain Astronomy, such as the observations of Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) and electromagnetic (EM) counterparts of gravitational waves (GWs). Based on near real-time Fermi/GBM data, we developed a low-latency pipeline to automatically calculate the temporal and spectral properties of GRBs. With this pipeline, some important parameters can be obtained, such as T and fluence, within ∼ 20 min after the GRB trigger. For ∼ 90% of GRBs, T and fluence are consistent with the GBM catalog results within 2σ errors. This pipeline has been used by the Gamma-ray Bursts Polarimeter (POLAR) and the Insight Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) to follow up the bursts of interest. For GRB 170817A, the first EM counterpart of GW events detected by Fermi/GBM and INTEGRAL/SPI-ACS, the pipeline gave T and spectral information 21 min after the GBM trigger, providing important information for POLAR and Insight-HXMT observations. © 2018 National Astronomical Observatories, CAS and IOP Publishing Ltd.., We thank the anonymous reviewer for helpful comments and suggestions. This work is supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB23040400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11403026, 11503028 and 11673023) and the National Basic Research Program of China (973 program, Grant No. 2014CB845800). BBZ acknowledges support from the National Thousand Young Talents programof China. We gratefully acknowledge support from the collaboration team of POLAR, a project funded by China National Space Administration (CNSA), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the University of Geneva (UNIGE). The authors would also like to thank Jing Jin, Jinlu Qu, Xiaobo Li, Youli Tuo, Zijian Li, Mingyu Ge, Jinyuan Liao, Guangcheng Xiao, Yue Huang and Chengkui Li for their suggestions on data analysis and the revision of this paper.

POLAR is a compact space-borne detector designed to perform reliable measurements of the polarization for transient sources like Gamma-Ray Bursts in the energy range 50-500keV. The instrument works based on the Compton Scattering principle with the plastic scintillators as the main detection material along with the multi-anode photomultiplier tube. POLAR has been launched successfully onboard the Chinese space laboratory TG-2 on 15th September, 2016. In order to reliably reconstruct the polarization information a highly detailed understanding of the instrument is required for both data analysis and Monte Carlo studies. For this purpose a full study of the in-orbit performance was performed in order to obtain the instrument calibration parameters such as noise, pedestal, gain nonlinearity of the electronics, threshold, crosstalk and gain, as well as the effect of temperature on the above parameters. Furthermore the relationship between gain and high voltage of the multi-anode photomultiplier tube has been studied and the errors on all measurement values are presented. Finally the typical systematic error on polarization measurements of Gamma-Ray Bursts due to the measurement error of the calibration parameters are estimated using Monte Carlo simulations., Comment: 43 pages, 30 figures, 1 table; Preprint accepted by NIMA

We present the X-ray timing results of the new black hole candidate (BHC) MAXI J1535-571 during its 2017 outburst from Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (\emph{Insight}-HXMT) observations taken from 2017 September 6 to 23. Following the definitions given by \citet{Belloni2010}, we find that the source exhibits state transitions from Low/Hard state (LHS) to Hard Intermediate state (HIMS) and eventually to Soft Intermediate state (SIMS). Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are found in the intermediate states, which suggest different types of QPOs. With the large effective area of \emph{Insight}-HXMT at high energies, we are able to present the energy dependence of the QPO amplitude and centroid frequency up to 100 keV which is rarely explored by previous satellites. We also find that the phase lag at the type-C QPOs centroid frequency is negative (soft lags) and strongly correlated with the centroid frequency. By assuming a geometrical origin of type-C QPOs, the source is consistent with being a high inclination system., Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, Sumbitted to ApJ

Electrons accelerated in relativistic collisionless shocks are usually assumed to follow a power-law energy distribution with an index of $p$. Observationally, although most gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have afterglows that are consistent with $p>2$, there are still a few GRBs suggestive of a hard ($p2$ and an "injection break" assumed as $\gamma_{\rm b}\propto \gamma^q$ in the highly relativistic regime, where $\gamma$ is the bulk Lorentz factor of the jet. In this paper, we show that GRB 060614 and GRB 060908 provide further evidence for such a DPLH spectrum. We interpret the multi-band afterglow of GRB 060614 with the DPLH model in an homogeneous interstellar medium by taking into account a continuous energy injection process, while for GRB 060908, a wind-like circumburst density profile is used. The two bursts, along with GRB 091127, suggest a similar behavior in the evolution of the injection break, with $q\sim0.5$. Whether this represents a universal law of the injection break remains uncertain and more such afterglow observations are needed to test this conjecture., Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure, submitted to ApJ, revised version

'Internal plateau' followed by a sharp decay is commonly seen in short gamma-ray burst (GRB) light curves. The plateau component is usually interpreted as the dipole emission from a supra-massive magnetar, and the sharp decay may imply the collapse of the magnetar to a black hole (BH). Fall-back accretion on to the new-born BH could produce long-lasting activities via the Blandford-Znajek (BZ) process. The magnetic flux accumulated near the BH would be confined by the accretion discs for a period of time. As the accretion rate decreases, the magnetic flux is strong enough to obstruct gas infall, leading to a magnetically arrested disc. Within this scenario, we show that the BZ process could produce two types of typical X-ray light curves: type I exhibits a long-lasting plateau, followed by a power-law (PL) decay with slopes ranging from 5/3 to 40/9; type II shows roughly a single PL decay with a slope of 5/3. The former requires low magnetic field strength, while the latter corresponds to relatively high values. We search for such signatures of the new-born BH from a sample of short GRBs with an internal plateau, and find two candidates: GRB 101219A and GRB 160821B, corresponding to type II and type I light curves, respectively. It is shown that our model can explain the data very well.©2017 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society, We acknowledge the anonymous referee for helpful comments and suggestions. We also thank Bing Zhang and He Gao for helpful discussions. This work made use of data supplied by the UK Swift Science Data Centre at the University of Leicester. This study was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB23040400). SLX was also supported by the Hundred Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. Y629113). WHL and WC acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant U1431124). BBZ acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry Projects AYA2012-39727-C03-01 and AYA201571718-R. LMS acknowledges support from the National Program on Key Research and Development Project (Grant No. 2016YFA0400801) and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2014CB845802).

Many details of how thunderstorms generate terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) and other forms of high-energy radiation remain uncertain, including the basic question of where they are produced. We exploit the association of distinct low-frequency radio emissions with generation of terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) to directly measure for the first time the TGF source altitude. Analysis of two events reveals source altitudes of 11.8 ± 0.4 km and 11.9 ± 0.9 km. This places the source region in the interior of the thunderstorm between the two main charge layers and implies an intrinsic TGF brightness of approximately 10 18 runaway electrons. The electric current in this nontraditional lightning process is found to be strong enough to drive nonlinear effects in the ionosphere, and in one case is comparable to the highest peak current lightning processes on the planet.

POLAR is a dedicated Compton scattering polarimeter to detect Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) in the energy range of about 50 to 500 keV, which was launched on-board the Chinese space laboratory Tiangong-2 (TG2) on Sep 15, 2016. Since then, POLAR has detected 55 GRBs jointly with other telescopes as of Apr 1, 2017. Meanwhile, more GRBs detected by POLAR only will be revealed as the burst search and identification program gets more sophisticated to deal with the complicated background. After subtracting the non-observation period due to varies reasons in the commissioning phase, the effective observation time is about 3180 hours, thus the GRB detection rate of POLAR is estimated to be about 150 GRBs/year, demonstrating that POLAR is one of the most sensitive GRB detectors in operation. Thanks to the high sensitivity, large FOV (about 1/2 of the all-sky) and unique capability of polarization measurement, POLAR is a very important detector in the search for high-energy electromagnetic counterpart for Gravitational Wave Bursts (GWB), High Energy Neutrinos (HEN) and Fast Radio Bursts (FRB). In this paper, we summarized the GRB observation by POLAR, including GRB search and identification, joint observation and Gamma-ray Coordinates Network (GCN) alerts, data analysis, GRB catalogues and so on.

POLAR is a new satellite-born detector aiming to measure the polarization of an unprecedented number of Gamma-Ray Bursts in the 50-500 keV energy range. The instrument, launched on-board the Tiangong-2 Chinese Space lab on the 15th of September 2016, is designed to measure the polarization of the hard X-ray flux by measuring the distribution of the azimuthal scattering angles of the incoming photons. A detailed understanding of the polarimeter and specifically of the systematic effects induced by the instrument's non-uniformity are required for this purpose. In order to study the instrument's response to polarization, POLAR underwent a beam test at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France. In this paper both the beam test and the instrument performance will be described. This is followed by an overview of the Monte Carlo simulation tools developed for the instrument. Finally a comparison of the measured and simulated instrument performance will be provided and the instrument response to polarization will be presented., Preprint Accepted for Publication in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A

Finding the electromagnetic (EM) counterpart of binary compact star merger, especially the binary neutron star (BNS) merger, is critically important for gravitational wave (GW) astronomy, cosmology and fundamental physics. On Aug. 17, 2017, Advanced LIGO and \textit{Fermi}/GBM independently triggered the first BNS merger, GW170817, and its high energy EM counterpart, GRB 170817A, respectively, resulting in a global observation campaign covering gamma-ray, X-ray, UV, optical, IR, radio as well as neutrinos. The High Energy X-ray telescope (HE) onboard \textit{Insight}-HXMT (Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope) is the unique high-energy gamma-ray telescope that monitored the entire GW localization area and especially the optical counterpart (SSS17a/AT2017gfo) with very large collection area ($\sim$1000 cm$^2$) and microsecond time resolution in 0.2-5 MeV. In addition, \textit{Insight}-HXMT quickly implemented a Target of Opportunity (ToO) observation to scan the GW localization area for potential X-ray emission from the GW source. Although it did not detect any significant high energy (0.2-5 MeV) radiation from GW170817, its observation helped to confirm the unexpected weak and soft nature of GRB 170817A. Meanwhile, \textit{Insight}-HXMT/HE provides one of the most stringent constraints (~10$^{-7}$ to 10$^{-6}$ erg/cm$^2$/s) for both GRB170817A and any other possible precursor or extended emissions in 0.2-5 MeV, which help us to better understand the properties of EM radiation from this BNS merger. Therefore the observation of \textit{Insight}-HXMT constitutes an important chapter in the full context of multi-wavelength and multi-messenger observation of this historical GW event., Comment: accepted by Science China - Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy. Planned to publish on Oct 17, but postponed due to a problem on pdf file

The Gamma-ray Burst Monitor consists of 12 sodium iodide and 2 bismuth germanate scintillation detectors designed to enhance the scientific returns from Fermi in the study of γ-ray bursts. It has a fixed non-paralyzing dead time of 2.604 μs for each detected event except for those in the overflow channel of the 12 bit analog to digital converter of each detector, which have a longer dead time of 10.42 μs. At very high counting rates the pulse pile-up effect in the detectors leads to spectral distortions and also to additional event losses. These effects are relevant for the spectral analysis of high-flux astrophysical events such as gamma-ray bursts, soft gamma repeaters and solar flares, as well as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes. In this paper we present the results of post-launch tests using engineering detectors and equipment on the ground, along with detailed simulations of these effects at very high counting rates. The simulations enable us to assess the qualitative and quantitative changes in spectral shapes and event losses at different count rates. The observed spectra at various count rates using high intensity radioactive sources such as Cs137 and Co60 agree well with the simulated spectra. We also re-test the analytical model developed previously to correct for the pulse pile-up effects in GBM detectors. We also study the expected spectral distortions of specific spectral models commonly used in GRB analysis, including the Band model and power-law models with and without a high-energy cutoff.

The Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has triggered on over 300 terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) since its launch in June 2008. With 14 detectors, GBM collects on average ~100 counts per triggered TGF, enabling unprecedented studies of the time profiles of TGFs. Here we present the first rigorous analysis of the temporal properties of a large sample of TGFs (278), including the distributions of the rise and fall times of the individual pulses and their durations. A variety of time profiles are observed with 19 of TGFs having multiple pulses separated in time and 31 clear cases of partially overlapping pulses. The effect of instrumental dead time and pulse pileup on the temporal properties are also presented. As the observed gamma ray pulse structure is representative of the electron flux at the source, TGF pulse parameters are critical to distinguish between relativistic feedback discharge and lightning leader models. We show that at least 67% of TGFs at satellite altitudes are significantly asymmetric. For the asymmetric pulses, the rise times are almost always shorter than the fall times. Those which are not are consistent with statistical fluctuations. The median rise time for asymmetric pulses is ~3 times shorter than for symmetric pulses while their fall times are comparable. The asymmetric shapes observed are consistent with the relativistic feedback discharge model when Compton scattering of photons between the source and Fermi is included, and instrumental effects are taken into account.

[1] The initial breakdown stage of 10 intracloud lightning flashes that may have produced terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) is studied with wideband E-change, multiband B-change, and VHF lightning mapping data; these flashes fit published criteria known to be associated with TGFs. The (x, y, z, t) locations of fast initial breakdown pulses (IBPs) were determined with E-change data using a time-of-arrival (TOA) technique. Each IBP includes one or more fast-rising subpulses. Previous research has shown that a typical intracloud flash initiates just above the main negative cloud charge (MNCC), then an initial negative leader propagates upward in 1–20 ms to the bottom of the upper positive cloud charge (UPCC), thereby establishing a conducting path between the MNCC and UPCC. TOA locations indicate that IBPs are directly related to the initial negative leader. The IBPs primarily occur in short (

[1] The observed γray fluence distribution of terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) is altered by instrumental effects. We perform corrections for dead time, pulse pileup, and detection efficiency in a model-independent manner. A sample of 106 GBM TGFs is selected to include both TGFs that triggered GBM and weaker TGFs found using an off-line search. Detector dead time and pulse pileup lower the observed fluence of each TGF and the detection efficiency causes weaker TGFs to have a lower probability of detection than brighter TGFs. Monte Carlo simulations are performed in each case to correct for these effects. The corrected fluence distribution is well fit with a power law of index α=−2.20±0.13. This is consistent with previous estimates using other techniques. Neither a high-fluence cutoff nor a low-fluence limit is found. The fluence distribution is also expressed in units of TGF h−1 km−2 versus photons cm−2 per TGF.

[1] A new data mode and new analysis methods are used to detect Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) with the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) 10 times more frequently than previously. In 1037 h of observations at times and over regions for which TGFs are expected, 384 new TGFs were found in addition to the 39 TGFs and two Terrestrial Electron Beam events already detected without the new data mode and methodology. Cosmic ray showers were found to be an important background; they show characteristic signatures in the data of both GBM and the Fermi Large Area Telescope Calorimeter that enable their removal, leaving a sample estimated to consist of ≈98% TGFs. The sample includes shorter TGFs than previously found with GBM. The true duration distribution likely contains additional short TGFs because their detection by GBM is limited by detector dead time. One-third of this sample has matches with locations from the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN)—maps of these locations show the geographic and meteorological features more clearly than maps of spacecraft locations. The intrinsic TGF rate is evaluated using the lightning rate maps of the Lightning Imaging Sensor, accounting for the detection efficiency of GBM as a function of spacecraft-source offset, from which we estimate a global TGF rate of ≈400,000 per year. With continuous production of data in the new mode we estimate that GBM will detect ≈850 TGFs per year.

[1] We show that the rate of association between terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) observed by the Fermi gamma ray burst monitor and VLF discharges detected by the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) depends strongly on the duration of the TGF, with the shortest TGFs having associated WWLLN events over 50% of the time, and the longest TGFs showing a less than 10% match rate. This correlation is stronger if one excludes the WWLLN discharges that are not simultaneous (within 200 µs) with the TGF. We infer that the simultaneous VLF discharges are from the relativistic electron avalanches that are responsible for the flash of gamma rays and the nonsimultaneous VLF discharges are from related intracloud lightning strokes. The distributions of far-field radiated VLF stroke energy measured by WWLLN for the simultaneous and nonsimultaneous discharges support the hypothesis of two discrete populations of VLF signals associated with TGFs, with the simultaneous discharges among the strongest measured by WWLLN.

The Gamma-ray Burst Polarimeter-POLAR is a highly sensitive detector which is dedicated to the measurement of GRB’s polarization with a large effective detection area and a large field of view (FOV). The optimized performance of POLAR will contribute to the capture and measurement of the transient sources like GRBs and Solar Flares. The detection energy range of POLAR is 50 keV ~ 500 keV, and mainly dominated by the Compton scattering effect. POLAR consists of 25 detector modular units (DMUs), and each DMU is composed of low Z material Plastic Scintillators (PS), multi-anode photomultipliers (MAPMT) and multi-channel ASIC Front-end Electronics (FEE). POLAR experiment is an international collaboration project involving China, Switzerland and Poland, and is expected to be launched in September in 2016 onboard the Chinese space laboratory “Tiangong-2 (TG-2)”. With the efforts from the collaborations, POLAR has experienced the Demonstration Model (DM) phase, Engineering and Qualification Model (EQM) phase, Qualification Model (QM) phase, and now a full Flight Model (FM) of POLAR has been constructed. The FM of POLAR has passed the environmental acceptance tests (thermal cycling, vibration, shock and thermal vacuum tests) and experienced the calibration tests with both radioactive sources and 100% polarized Gamma-Ray beam at ESRF after its construction. The design of POLAR, Monte-Carlo simulation analysis, as well as the performance test results will all be introduced in this paper.

Gamma-ray polarimetry is a new powerful tool to study the processes responsible for the emission from astrophysical sources and the environments in which this emission takes place. Few successful polarimetric measurements have however been performed thus far in the gamma-ray energy band due to the difficulties involved. POLAR is a dedicated polarimeter designed to perform high precision measurements of the polarization of the emission from gamma-ray burst in the 50-500 keV energy range. This new polarimeter is expected to detect approximately 50 gamma-ray bursts per year while performing high precision polarization measurements on approximately 10 bursts per year. The instrument was launched into lower earth orbit as part of the second Chinese space lab, the Tiangong-2, on September 15th 2016 and has been taking data successfully since being switched on one week after. The instrument uses a segmented scintillator array consisting of 1600 plastic scintillator bars, read out by 25 flat-panel multi-anode photomultipliers, to measure the Compton scattering angles of incoming photons. The small segmentation and relatively large uniform effective area allow the instrument to measure the polarization of a large number of transient events, such as gamma-ray bursts, with an unprecedented precision during its two year life-time. The final flight model underwent detailed calibration prior to launch as well as intensive space qualification tests, a summary of which will be presented in this paper. The instrument design will be discussed first followed by an overview of the on-ground tests, finally the in-orbit behavior as measured during the first weeks of the mission will be presented.

The Doppler dipole signal dominates the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy maps obtained by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) mission, and plays a key role throughout the data processing. Previously, we discovered a timing asynchronism of -25.6ms between the timestamps of the spacecraft attitude and radiometer output in the original raw WMAP time-ordered data (TOD), which, if not corrected in following data processing, would generate an artificial quadrupole component (l=2) in recovered CMB maps (Liu, Xiong & Li 2010). Recently, Roukema (2010b) proves that there does exist a timing-offset-induced error corresponding to about -25.6ms in the WMAP calibrated TOD by studying the fluctuation variance per pixel in the temperature map recovered from the TOD as a function of assumed timing-offset. Here, we find evidence directly in the WMAP TOD for such an uncorrected timing error, possibly occurred in calculating the Doppler dipole signal during the WMAP team's TOD data processing. The amplitude is highly significant and is consistent with previous work. We also show that the uncorrected timing-offset can lead the WMAP CMB quadrupole to be substantially overestimated.

The Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) project is the planned Chinese space telescope for detecting the X and gamma-ray counterpart. It consists of two micro-satellites in low earth orbit with the advantages of instantaneous full-sky coverage, low energy threshold down to 6 keV and can be achieved within a short period and small budget. Due to the limitation of size, weight and power consumption of micro-satellites, silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are used to replace the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to assemble a novel gamma-ray detector. A prototype of a SiPM array with LaBr3 crystal is built and tested, and it shows a high detection efficiency (70% at 5.9 keV) and an acceptable uniformity. The low-energy X-ray of 5.9 keV can be detected by a simply readout circuit, and the energy resolution is 6.5% (FWHM) at 662 keV. The design and performance of the detector are discussed in detail in this paper., 9 pages, 10 figures, accepteded by JINST

The Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) is an X-ray astronomical satellite in 1-250 keV, consisting of three collimated instruments. We present the in-flight calibration approach of the collimator alignment and Point Spread Function (PSF) for HXMT, using both the direct fitting method and the imaging method. According to observational simulations of the Crab Nebula, we find that these two methods produce almost the same calibration accuracy of the alignment, and with a one-day scanning observation, the alignment can be calibrated to better than 0.45' and 0.1' along the wide and narrow directions of the Field of View (FOV) for a detector module, which corresponds to a localization accuracy of better than 0.1' and meets the scientific requirement.

A remarkable similarity between the large-scale non-Gaussian pattern of cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperatures obtained by Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) mission and the distribution feature of observation numbers is noted. Motivated from such a similarity, in this work we check the WMAP data for the correlation between pixel temperature t and observation number N. Systematic effect of imbalance differential observation and significant t-N correlation in magnitude, distribution non-Gaussianity and north-south asymmetry are found. Our results indicate that, for precision cosmology study based on WMAP observations, the observation effect on released WMAP temperature maps has to be further carefully studied., Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS

The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) has detected over 1400 Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) since it began science operations in July, 2008. We use a subset of over 300 GRBs localized by instruments such as Swift, the Fermi Large Area Telescope, INTEGRAL, and MAXI, or through triangulations from the InterPlanetary Network (IPN), to analyze the accuracy of GBM GRB localizations. We find that the reported statistical uncertainties on GBM localizations, which can be as small as 1 degree, underestimate the distance of the GBM positions to the true GRB locations and we attribute this to systematic uncertainties. The distribution of systematic uncertainties is well represented (68% confidence level) by a 3.7 degree Gaussian with a non-Gaussian tail that contains about 10% of GBM-detected GRBs and extends to approximately 14 degrees. A more complex model suggests that there is a dependence of the systematic uncertainty on the position of the GRB in spacecraft coordinates, with GRBs in the quadrants on the Y-axis better localized than those on the X-axis., accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series

Pulsar navigation, which utilizes pulsar observations to determine the position or orbit of a spacecraft, has raised interests of many countries. Several projects, such as NICER, have been proposed. POLAR on-board the TG-2 space station of China has worked for about half year and its main task is to measure the polarization of the gamma-ray bursts. POLAR can also detect the photons from pulsars due to its large effective area (about 200 cm2) and wide field of view (more than 2π Sr). In this work we report our first results testing pulsar navigation with POLAR observations. A new navigation algorithm has been used that combines the orbit dynamics and pulsar profile analysis. With 31-day-long observations of the Crab pulsar, the TG-2 orbit was determined successfully. The parameter values of the orbital elements are solved and the errors are estimated by bootstrap method. The errors with 99.7% confidence are: semi-major axis error of 7.0 m, eccentricity error of 0.00026, inclination error of 0.023° Right Ascension of the Ascending Node (RAAN) error of 0.17°, error for argument of perigee of 0.042° and mean anomaly error of 0.042°.

We describe recent coordinated observations of radio emissions and terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) that provide new insight into the detailed processes that generate this thunderstorm-driven high-energy radiation. These observations include lightning mapping array measurements of the structure and development of a lightning flash that produced a TGF, and high time resolution observations of the specific lightning processes associated with three TGFs.

Recent observations by the $Fermi$ Gamma-ray Space Telescope have confirmed the existence of thermal and non-thermal components in the prompt photon spectra of some Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Through an analysis of six bright Fermi GRBs, we have discovered a correlation between the observed photospheric and non-thermal $\gamma$-ray emission components of several GRBs using a physical model that has previously been shown to be a good fit to the Fermi data. From the spectral parameters of these fits we find that the characteristic energies, $E_{\rm p}$ and $kT$, of these two components are correlated via the relation $E_{\rm p} \propto T^{\alpha}$ which varies from GRB to GRB. We present an interpretation in which the value of index $\alpha$ indicates whether the jet is dominated by kinetic or magnetic energy. To date, this jet composition parameter has been assumed in the modeling of GRB outflows rather than derived from the data.

The observations of the exceptionally bright gamma-ray burst (GRB) 130427A by the Large Area Telescope aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope provide constraints on the nature of such unique astrophysical sources. GRB 130427A had the largest fluence, highest-energy photon (95 GeV), longest $\gamma$-ray duration (20 hours), and one of the largest isotropic energy releases ever observed from a GRB. Temporal and spectral analyses of GRB 130427A challenge the widely accepted model that the non-thermal high-energy emission in the afterglow phase of GRBs is synchrotron emission radiated by electrons accelerated at an external shock., Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Science. Corresponding authors: S. Zhu (sjzhu@umd.edu); J. Chiang (jchiang@slac.stanford.edu); C. Dermer (charles.dermer@nrl.navy.mil); N. Omodei (nicola.omodei@stanford.edu); G. Vianello (giacomov@slac.stanford.edu); S. Xiong (Shaolin.Xiong@uah.edu)