No Arabic abstract
The synchrotron external shock model predicts the evolution of the spectral ($beta$) and temporal ($alpha$) indices during the gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow for different environmental density profiles, electron spectral indices, electron cooling regimes, and regions of the spectrum. We study the relationship between $alpha$ and $beta$, the so-called closure relations with GRBs detected by textit{Fermi} Large Area Telescope (textit{Fermi}-LAT) from 2008 August to 2018 August. The spectral and temporal indices for the > 100 MeV emission from the textit{Fermi}-LAT as determined in the Second Fermi-LAT Gamma-ray Burst Catalog (2FLGC) are used in this work. We select GRBs whose spectral and temporal indices are well constrained (58 long-duration GRBs and 1 short-duration GRBs) and classify each GRB into the best-matched relation. As a result, we found that a number of GRBs require a very small fraction of the total energy density contained in the magnetic field ($epsilon_{B}$ $lesssim$ 10$^{-7}$). The estimated mean and standard deviation of electron spectral index $mathit{p}$ are 2.40 and 0.44, respectively. The GRBs satisfying a closure relation of the slow cooling tend to have a softer $mathit{p}$ value compared to those of the fast cooling. Moreover, the Kolmogorov--Smirnov test of the two $mathit{p}$ distributions from the fast and slow coolings rejects a hypothesis that the two distributions are drawn from the single reference distribution with a significance of 3.2 $sigma$. Lastly, the uniform density medium is preferred over the medium that decreases like the inverse of distance squared for long-duration GRBs.
The number of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) detected at high energies ($sim,0.1-100$ GeV) has seen a rapid increase over the last decade, thanks to observations from the Fermi-Large Area Telescope. The improved statistics and quality of data resulted in a better characterisation of the high-energy emission properties and in stronger constraints on theoretical models. In spite of the many achievements and progresses, several observational properties still represent a challenge for theoretical models, revealing how our understanding is far from being complete. This paper reviews the main spectral and temporal properties of $sim,0.1-100$ GeV emission from GRBs and summarises the most promising theoretical models proposed to interpret the observations. Since a boost for the understanding of GeV radiation might come from observations at even higher energies, the present status and future prospects for observations at very-high energies (above $sim$ 100 GeV) are also discussed. The improved sensitivity of upcoming facilities, coupled to theoretical predictions, supports the concrete possibility for future ground GRB detections in the high/very-high energy domain.
The synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission from Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) forward shock can extend to the very-high-energy (VHE; $E_gamma > $100 GeV) range. Such high energy photons are rare and are attenuated by the cosmic infrared background before reaching us. In this work, we discuss the prospect to detect these VHE photons using the current ground-based Cherenkov detectors. Our calculated results are consistent with the upper limits obtained with several Cherenkov detectors for GRB 030329, GRB 050509B, and GRB 060505 during the afterglow phase. For 5 bursts in our nearby GRB sample (except for GRB 030329), current ground-based Cherenkov detectors would not be expected to detect the modeled VHE signal. Only for those very bright and nearby bursts like GRB 030329, detection of VHE photons is possible under favorable observing conditions and a delayed observation time of $la$10 hours.
We examine 288 GRBs detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescopes Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) that fell within the field-of-view of Fermis Large Area Telescope (LAT) during the first 2.5 years of observations, which showed no evidence for emission above 100 MeV. We report the photon flux upper limits in the 0.1-10 GeV range during the prompt emission phase as well as for fixed 30 s and 100 s integrations starting from the trigger time for each burst. We compare these limits with the fluxes that would be expected from extrapolations of spectral fits presented in the first GBM spectral catalog and infer that roughly half of the GBM-detected bursts either require spectral breaks between the GBM and LAT energy bands or have intrinsically steeper spectra above the peak of the { u}F{ u} spectra (Epk). In order to distinguish between these two scenarios, we perform joint GBM and LAT spectral fits to the 30 brightest GBM-detected bursts and find that a majority of these bursts are indeed softer above Epk than would be inferred from fitting the GBM data alone. Approximately 20% of this spectroscopic subsample show statistically significant evidence for a cut-off in their high-energy spectra, which if assumed to be due to {gamma}{gamma} attenuation, places limits on the maximum Lorentz factor associated with the relativistic outflow producing this emission. All of these latter bursts have maximum Lorentz factor estimates that are well below the minimum Lorentz factors calculated for LAT- detected GRBs, revealing a wide distribution in the bulk Lorentz factor of GRB outflows and indicating that LAT-detected bursts may represent the high end of this distribution.
We investigate prolonged engine activities of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs), such as extended and/or plateau emissions, as high-energy gamma-ray counterparts to gravitational waves (GWs). Binary neutron-star mergers lead to relativistic jets and merger ejecta with $r$-process nucleosynthesis, which are observed as SGRBs and kilonovae/macronovae, respectively. Long-term relativistic jets may be launched by the merger remnant as hinted in X-ray light curves of some SGRBs. The prolonged jets may dissipate their kinetic energy within the radius of the cocoon formed by the jet-ejecta interaction. Then the cocoon supplies seed photons to non-thermal electrons accelerated at the dissipation region, causing high-energy gamma-ray production through the inverse Compton scattering process. We numerically calculate high-energy gamma-ray spectra in such a system using a one-zone and steady-state approximation, and show that GeV--TeV gamma-rays are produced with a duration of $10^2-10^5$ seconds. They can be detected by {it Fermi}/LAT or CTA as gamma-ray counterparts to GWs.
I investigate the origin of the observed correlation between a GRBs nuFnu spectral peak Epk and its isotropic equivalent energy Eiso through the use of a population synthesis code to model the prompt gamma-ray emission from GRBs. By using prescriptions for the distribution of prompt spectral parameters as well as the populations luminosity function and co-moving rate density, I generate a simulated population of GRBs and examine how bursts of varying spectral properties and redshift would appear to a gamma-ray detector here on Earth. I find that a strong observed correlation can be produced between the source frame Epk and Eiso for the detected population despite the existence of only a weak and broad correlation in the original simulated population. The energy dependance of a gamma-ray detectors flux-limited detection threshold acts to produce a correlation between the source frame Epk and Eiso for low luminosity GRBs, producing the left boundary of the observed correlation. Conversely, very luminous GRBs are found at higher redshifts than their low luminosity counterparts due to the standard Malquest bias, causing bursts in the low Epk, high Eiso regime to go undetected because their Epk values would be redshifted to energies at which most gamma-ray detectors become less sensitive. I argue that it is this previously unexamined effect which produces the right boundary of the observed correlation. Therefore, the origin of the observed correlation is a complex combination of the instruments detection threshold, the intrinsic cutoff in the GRB luminosity function, and the broad range of redshifts over which GRBs are detected. These simulations serve to demonstrate how selection effects caused by a combination of instrumental sensitivity and the cosmological nature of an astrophysical population can act to produce an artificially strong correlation between observed properties.