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Previous researches on high-energy photon events from gamma-ray bursts~(GRBs) suggest a light speed variation $v(E)=c(1-E/E_{mathrm{LV}})$ with $E_{mathrm{LV}}=3.6times10^{17}~mathrm{ GeV}$, together with a pre-burst scenario that hight-energy photons come out about 10 seconds earlier than low-energy photons at the GRB source. However, in the Lorentz invariance violating scenario with an energy dependent light speed considered here, high-energy photons travel slower than low-energy photons due to the light speed variation, so that they are usually detected after low-energy photons in observed GRB data. Here we find four high-energy photon events which were observed earlier than low-energy photons from Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope~(FGST), and analysis on these photon events supports the pre-burst scenario of high energy photons from GRBs and the energy dependence of light speed listed above.
Previous researches on high-energy neutrino events from gamma-ray bursters (GRBs) suggest a neutrino speed variation $v(E)=c(1pm E/E^{ u}_{mathrm{LV}})$ with ${E}^{ u}_{rm LV}=(6.4pm 1.5)times10^{17}~{ rm GeV}$, together with an intrinsic time difference ${Delta {t}_{rm in}=(-2.8pm 0.7)times10^2~{rm s}}$, which means that high-energy neutrinos come out about 300~s earlier than low-energy photons in the source reference system. Considering the possibility that pre-bursts of neutrinos may be accompanied by high-energy photons, in this work we search for high-energy photon events with earlier emission time from 100 to 1000~s before low-energy photons at source by analyzing Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST) data. We perform the searching of photon events with energies larger than 100~MeV, and find 14 events from 48 GRBs with known redshifts. Combining these events with a $1.07~rm{TeV}$ photon event observed by the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov telescopes (MAGIC), we suggest a pre-burst stage with a long duration period of several minutes of high energy neutrino emissions accompanied by high energy photons at the GRB source.
We report polarization measurements in two prompt emissions of gamma-ray bursts, GRB 110301A and GRB 110721A, observed with the Gamma-ray burst polarimeter (GAP) aboard IKAROS solar sail mission. We detected linear polarization signals from each burst with polarization degree of $Pi = 70 pm 22$% with statistical significance of $3.7 sigma$ for GRB 110301A, and $Pi = 84^{+16}_{-28}$% with $3.3 sigma$ confidence level for GRB 110721A. We did not detect any significant change of polarization angle. These two events had shorter durations and dimmer brightness compared with GRB 100826A, which showed a significant change of polarization angle, as reported in Yonetoku et al. (2011). Synchrotron emission model can be consistent with all the data of the three GRBs, while photospheric quasi-thermal emission model is not favorable. We suggest that magnetic field structures in the emission region are globally-ordered fields advected from the central engine.
We report the strictest observational verification of CPT invariance in the photon sector, as a result of gamma-ray polarization measurement of distant gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which are brightest stellar-size explosions in the universe. We detected the gamma-ray polarization of three GRBs with high significance, and the source distances may be constrained by a well-known luminosity indicator for GRBs. For the Lorentz- and CPT-violating dispersion relation E_{pm}^2=p^2 pm 2xi p^3/M_{Pl}, where pm denotes different circular polarization states of the photon, the parameter xi is constrained as |xi|<O(10^{-15}). Barring precise cancellation between quantum gravity effects and dark energy effects, the stringent limit on the CPT-violating effect leads to the expectation that quantum gravity presumably respects the CPT invariance.
We calibrated the peak energy-peak luminosity relation of GRBs (so called Yonetoku relation) using 33 events with the redshift $z < 1.62$ without assuming any cosmological models. The luminosity distances to GRBs are estimated from those of large amount of Type Ia supernovae with $z<1.755$. This calibrated Yonetoku relation can be used as a new cosmic distance ladder toward higher redshifts. We determined the luminosity distances of 30 GRBs in $1.8 < z < 5.6$ using the calibrated relation and plotted the likelihood contour in $(Omega_m,Omega_Lambda)$ plane. We obtained $(Omega_m, Omega_{Lambda})= (0.37^{+0.14}_{-0.11}, 0.63^{+0.11}_{-0.14})$ for a flat universe. Since our method is free from the circularity problem, we can say that our universe in $1.8 < z < 5.6$ is compatible with the so called concordance cosmological model derived for $z < 1.8$. This suggests that the time variation of the dark energy is small or zero up to $zsim 6$.
Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been linked to extreme core-collapse supernovae from massive stars. Gravitational waves (GW) offer a probe of the physics behind long GRBs. We investigate models of long-lived (~10-1000s) GW emission associated with the accretion disk of a collapsed star or with its protoneutron star remnant. Using data from LIGOs fifth science run, and GRB triggers from the swift experiment, we perform a search for unmodeled long-lived GW transients. Finding no evidence of GW emission, we place 90% confidence level upper limits on the GW fluence at Earth from long GRBs for three waveforms inspired by a model of GWs from accretion disk instabilities. These limits range from F<3.5 ergs cm^-2 to $F<1200 ergs cm^-2, depending on the GRB and on the model, allowing us to probe optimistic scenarios of GW production out to distances as far as ~33 Mpc. Advanced detectors are expected to achieve strain sensitivities 10x better than initial LIGO, potentially allowing us to probe the engines of the nearest long GRBs.