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Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most explosive phenomena in the Universe after the Big Bang. A large fraction of GRB lightcurves (LCs) shows X-ray plateaus. We perform the most comprehensive analysis of all GRBs (with known and unknown redshifts) with plateau emission observed by The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory from its launch until August 2019. We fit 455 LCs showing a plateau and explore whether these LCs follow closure relations, relations between the temporal and spectral indices of the afterglow, corresponding to 2 distinct astrophysical environments and cooling regimes within the external forward shock (ES) model, and find that the ES model works for the majority of cases. The most favored environments are a constant density interstellar or wind medium with slow cooling. We also confirm the existence of the fundamental plane relation between the rest-frame time and luminosity at the end of the plateau emission and the peak prompt luminosity for this enlarged sample, and test this relation on groups corresponding to the astrophysical environments of our known redshift sample. The plane becomes a crucial discriminant corresponding to these environments in terms of the best fitting parameters and dispersions. Most GRBs for which the closure relations are fulfilled with respect to astrophysical environments have an intrinsic scatter sigma compatible within 1 sigma of that of the Gold GRBs, a subset of long GRBs with relatively flat plateaus. We also find that GRBs satisfying closure relations indicating a fast cooling regime have a lower sigma than ever previously found in literature.
The Neil Gehrels Swift observatory observe Gamma-Ray bursts (GRBs) plateaus in X-rays. We test the reliability of the closure relations through the fireball model when dealing with the GRB plateau emission. We analyze 455 X-ray lightcurves (LCs) collected by emph{Swift} from 2005 (January) until 2019 (August) for which the redshift is both known and unknown using the phenomenological Willingale 2007 model. Using these fits, we analyze the emission mechanisms and astrophysical environments of these GRBs through the closure relations within the time interval of the plateau emission. Finally, we test the 3D fundamental plane relation (Dainotti relation) which connects the prompt peak luminosity, the time at the end of the plateau (rest-frame), and the luminosity at that time, on the GRBs with redshift, concerning groups determined by the closure relations. This allows us to check if the intrinsic scatter sigma_{int} of any of these groups is reduced compared to previous literature. The most fulfilled environments for the electron spectral distribution, p>2, are Wind Slow Cooling (SC) and ISM Slow Cooling for cases in which the parameter q, which indicates the flatness of the plateau emission and accounts for the energy injection, is =0 and =0.5, respectively, both in the cases with known and unknown redshifts. We also find that for the sGRBs All ISM Environments with $q=0$ have the smallest sigma_{int}=0.04 pm 0.15 in terms of the fundamental plane relation holding a probability of occurring by chance of p=0.005. We have shown that the majority of GRBs presenting the plateau emission fulfil the closure relations, including the energy injection, with a particular preference for the Wind SC environment. The subsample of GRBs that fulfil given relations can be used as possible standard candles and can suggest a way to reduce the intrinsic scatter of these studied relationships.
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 detection of flares with the Swift satellite triggered a lot of bservational and theoretical interest in these phenomena. As a consequence a large analysis effort started within the community to characterize the phenomenon and at the same time a variety of theoretical speculations have been proposed to explain it. In this presentation we discuss part of the results we obtained analyzing a first statistical sample of GRBs observed with Swift. The first goal of this research is very simple: derive those observational properties that could distinguish between internal and external shock and between an ever active central engine and delayed shocks (refreshing) related to a very small initial Lorentz bulk factor. We discuss first the method of analysis and the morphology evidencing the similarities such flares have with the prompt emission pulses. We conclude that GRB flares are due to internal shocks and leave still open the question of whether or not the central engine is active for a time of the order of 105 seconds after the prompt emission.
The Large Area Telescope (LAT) aboard the $Fermi$ spacecraft routinely observes high-energy emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Here we present the second catalog of LAT-detected GRBs, covering the first 10 years of operations, from 2008 August 4 to 2018 August 4. A total of 186 GRBs are found; of these, 91 show emission in the range $30-100,$MeV (17 of which are seen only in this band) and 169 are detected above 100 MeV. Most of these sources were discovered by other instruments ($Fermi$/GBM, $Swift$/BAT, AGILE, INTEGRAL) or reported by the Interplanetary Network (IPN); the LAT has independently triggered on 4 GRBs. This catalog presents the results for all 186 GRBs. We study onset, duration and temporal properties of each GRB, as well as spectral characteristics in the $100,$MeV$-100,$GeV energy range. Particular attention is given to the photons with highest energy. Compared with the first LAT GRB catalog, our rate of detection is significantly improved. The results generally confirm the main findings of the first catalog: the LAT primarily detects the brightest GBM bursts, and the high-energy emission shows delayed onset as well as longer duration. However, in this work we find delays exceeding 1 ks, and several GRBs with durations over 10 ks. Furthermore, the larger number of LAT detections shows that these GRBs cover not only the high-fluence range of GBM-detected GRBs, but also samples lower fluences. In addition, the greater number of detected GRBs with redshift estimates allows us to study their properties in both the observer and rest frames. Comparison of the observational results with theoretical predictions reveals that no model is currently able to explain all results, highlighting the role of LAT observations in driving theoretical models.
Decades ago two classes of gamma-ray bursts were identified and delineated as having durations shorter and longer than about 2 s. Subsequently indications also supported the existence of a third class. Using maximum likelihood estimation we analyze the duration distribution of 888 Swift BAT bursts observed before October 2015. Fitting three log-normal functions to the duration distribution of the bursts provides a better fit than two log-normal distributions, with 99.9999% significance. Similarly to earlier results, we found that a fourth component is not needed. The relative frequencies of the distribution of the groups are 8% for short, 35% for intermediate and 57% for long bursts which correspond to our previous results. We analyse the redshift distribution for the 269 GRBs of the 888 GRBs with known redshift. We find no evidence for the previously suggested difference between the long and intermediate GRBs redshift distribution. The observed redshift distribution of the 20 short GRBs differs with high significance from the distributions of the other groups.