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Register a new userLOFAR detectability of prompt low-frequency radio emission during gamma-ray burst X-ray flares
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Added by
Rhaana L. C. Starling
Publication date
2020
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Authors
R.L.C. Starling
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The prompt emission in long gamma-ray bursts arises from within relativistic outflows created during the collapse of massive stars, and the mechanism by which radiation is produced may be either magnetically- or matter-dominated. In this work we suggest an observational test of a magnetically-dominated Poynting flux model that predicts both gamma-ray and low-frequency radio pulses. A common feature among early light curves of long gamma-ray bursts are X-ray flares, which have been shown to arise from sites internal to the jet. Ascribing these events to the prompt emission, we take an established Swift XRT flare sample and apply a magnetically-dominated wind model to make predictions for the timing and flux density of corresponding radio pulses in the ~100-200 MHz band observable with radio facilities such as LOFAR. We find that 44 per cent of the X-ray flares studied would have had detectable radio emission under this model, for typical sensitivities reached using LOFARs rapid response mode and assuming negligible absorption and scattering effects in the interstellar and intergalactic medium. We estimate the rate of Swift gamma-ray bursts displaying X-ray flares with detectable radio pulses, accessible to LOFAR, of order seven per year. We determine that LOFAR triggered observations can play a key role in establishing the long debated mechanism responsible for gamma-ray burst prompt emission.
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The radiative process responsible for gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) prompt emission has not been identified yet. If dominated by fast-cooling synchrotron radiation, the part of the spectrum immediately below the $ u F_ u$ peak energy should display a power-law behavior with slope $alpha_2=-3/2$, which breaks to a higher value $alpha_1=-2/3$ (i.e. to a harder spectral shape) at lower energies. Prompt emission spectral data (usually available down to $sim10-20,$keV) are consistent with one single power-law behavior below the peak, with typical slope $langlealpharangle=-1$, higher than (and then inconsistent with) the expected value $alpha_2=-3/2$. To better characterize the spectral shape at low energy, we analyzed 14 GRBs for which the Swift X-ray Telescope started observations during the prompt. When available, Fermi-GBM observations have been included in the analysis. For 67% of the spectra, models that usually give a satisfactory description of the prompt (e.g., the Band model) fail in reproducing the $0.5-1000,$keV spectra: low-energy data outline the presence of a spectral break around a few keV.We then introduce an empirical fitting function that includes a low-energy power law $alpha_1$, a break energy $E_{rm break}$, a second power law $alpha_2$, and a peak energy $E_{rm peak}$. We find $langlealpha_1rangle=-0.66$ ($ rm sigma=0.35$), $langle log (E_{rm break}/rm keV)rangle=0.63$ ($ rm sigma=0.20$), $langlealpha_2rangle=-1.46$ ($rm sigma=0.31$), and $langle log (E_{rm peak}/rm keV)rangle=2.1$ ($ rm sigma=0.56$).The values $langlealpha_1rangle$ and $langlealpha_2rangle$ are very close to expectations from synchrotron radiation. In this context, $E_{rm break}$ corresponds to the cooling break frequency.
We aim to obtain a measure of the curvature of time-resolved spectra that can be compared directly to theory. This tests the ability of models such as synchrotron emission to explain the peaks or breaks of GBM prompt emission spectra. We take the burst sample from the official Fermi GBM GRB time-resolved spectral catalog. We re-fit all spectra with a measured peak or break energy in the catalog best-fit models in various energy ranges, which cover the curvature around the spectral peak or break, resulting in a total of 1,113 spectra being analysed. We compute the sharpness angles under the peak or break of the triangle constructed under the model fit curves and compare to the values obtained from various representative emission models: blackbody, single-electron synchrotron, synchrotron emission from a Maxwellian or power-law electron distribution. We find that 35% of the time-resolved spectra are inconsistent with the single-electron synchrotron function, and 91% are inconsistent with the Maxwellian synchrotron function. The single temperature, single emission time and location blackbody function is found to be sharper than all the spectra. No general evolutionary trend of the sharpness angle is observed, neither per burst nor for the whole population. It is found that the limiting case, a single temperature Maxwellian synchrotron function, can only contribute up to $58^{+23}_{-18}$% of the peak flux. Our results show that even the sharpest but non-realistic case, the single-electron synchrotron function, cannot explain a large fraction of the observed GRB prompt spectra. Because of the fact that any combination of physically possible synchrotron spectra added together will always further broaden the spectrum, emission mechanisms other than optically thin synchrotron radiation are likely required in a full explanation of the spectral peaks or breaks of the GRB prompt emission phase.
Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) prompt emission spectra are often fitted with the empirical Band function, namely two power laws smoothly connected. The typical slope of the low energy (sub-MeV) power law is $alpha_{B}simeq -1$. In a small fraction of long GRBs this power law splits into two components such that the spectrum presents, in addition to the typical $sim$ MeV $ u F_{ u}$ peak, a break at the order of a few keV or hundreds keV. The typical power law slopes below and above the break are -0.6 and -1.5 respectively. If the break is a common feature, the value of $alpha_{B}$ could be an average of the spectral slopes below and above the break in GRBs fitted with Band function. We analyze the spectra of 27 (9) bright long (short) GRBs detected by the Fermi satellite finding a low energy break between 80 keV and 280 keV in 12 long GRBs, but in none of the short events. Through spectral simulations we show that if the break is moved closer (farther) to the peak energy a relatively harder (softer) $alpha_{B}$ is found by fitting the simulated spectra with the Band function. The hard average slope $alpha_{B}simeq-0.38$ found in short GRBs suggests that the break is close to the peak energy. We show that for 15 long GRBs best fitted by the Band function only, the break could be present, but it is not identifiable in the Fermi/GBM spectrum, because either at low energies, close to the detector limit for relatively soft $alpha_{B}lesssim-1$, or in the proximity of the energy peak for relatively hard $alpha_{B}gtrsim-1$. A spectrum with two breaks could be typical of GRB prompt emission, though hard to identify with current detectors. Instrumental design such that conceived for the THESEUS space mission, extending from 0.3 keV to several MeV and featuring a larger effective area with respect to Fermi/GBM, can reveal a larger fraction of GRBs with a spectral energy break.
The prompt emission of most gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) typically exhibits a non-thermal Band component. The synchrotron radiation in the popular internal shock model is generally put forward to explain such a non-thermal component. However, the low-energy photon index $alpha sim -1.5$ predicted by the synchrotron radiation is inconsistent with the observed value $alpha sim -1$. Here, we investigate the evolution of a magnetic field during propagation of internal shocks within an ultrarelativistic outflow, and revisit the fast cooling of shock-accelerated electrons via synchrotron radiation for this evolutional magnetic field. We find that the magnetic field is first nearly constant and then decays as $Bpropto t^{-1}$, which leads to a reasonable range of the low-energy photon index, $-3/2 < alpha < -2/3$. In addition, if a rising electron injection rate during a GRB is introduced, we find that $alpha$ reaches $-2/3$ more easily. We thus fit the prompt emission spectra of GRB 080916c and GRB~080825c.
Bright X-ray flares are routinely detected by the Swift satellite during the early afterglow of gamma-ray bursts, when the explosion ejecta drives a blast wave into the external medium. We suggest that the flares are produced as the reverse shock propagates into the tail of the ejecta. The ejecta is expected to contain a few dense shells formed at an earlier stage of the explosion. We show an example of how such dense shells form and describe how the reverse shock interacts with them. A new reflected shock is generated in this interaction, which produces a short-lived X-ray flare. The model provides a natural explanation for the main observed features of the X-ray flares --- the fast rise, the steep power-law decline, and the characteristic peak duration Delta t /t= (0.1-0.3).
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