No Arabic abstract
Assuming that the observed gamma-ray burst (GRB) rate as a function of redshift is proportional to a corrected star formation rate, we derive the empirical distribution of the viewing angles of long BATSE GRBs, $P^{rm em}(theta)$, and the distribution of these bursts in the plane of $theta$ against redshift, $P^{rm em}(theta, z)$, by using a tight correlation between $E_{gamma}$) and $E_{rm p}^{}$). Our results show that $P^{rm em}(theta)$ is well fitted by a log-normal distribution centering at $log theta/{rm rad}=-0.76$ with a width of $sigma_{log theta}=0.57$. We test different universal structured jet models by comparing model predictions with our empirical results. To make the comparisons reasonable, an effective threshold, which corresponds to the sample selection criteria of the long GRB sample, is used. We find that the predictions of a two-Gaussian jet model are roughly consistent with our empirical results. A brief discussion shows that cosmological effect on the $E_{gamma}-E_{rm p}^{}$ relation does not significantly affect our results, but sample selection effects on this relationship might significantly influence our results.
I discuss in this paper the phenomenon of post-burst emission in BATSE gamma-ray bursts at energies traditionally associated with prompt emission. By summing the background-subtracted signals from hundreds of bursts, I find that tails out to hundreds of seconds after the trigger may be a common feature of long events (duration greater than 2s), and perhaps of the shorter bursts at a lower and shorter-lived level. The tail component appears independent of both the duration (within the long GRB sample) and brightness of the prompt burst emission, and may be softer. Some individual bursts have visible tails at gamma-ray energies and the spectrum in at least a few cases is different from that of the prompt emission.
We have recently completed a search of 6 years of archival BATSE data for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) that were too faint to activate the real-time burst detection system running onboard the spacecraft. These non-triggered bursts can be combined with the triggered bursts detected onboard to produce a GRB intensity distribution that reaches peak fluxes a factor of 2 lower than could be studied previously. The value of the V/Vmax statistic (in Euclidean space) for the bursts we detect is 0.177 +/- 0.006. This surprisingly low value is obtained because we detected very few bursts on the 4.096 s and 8.192 s time scales (where most bursts have their highest signal-to-noise ratio) that were not already detected on the 1.024 s time scale. If allowance is made for a power-law distribution of intrinsic peak luminosities, the extended peak flux distribution is consistent with models in which the redshift distribution of the gamma-ray burst rate approximately traces the star formation history of the Universe. We argue that this class of models is preferred over those in which the burst rate is independent of redshift. We use the peak flux distribution to derive a limit of 10% (99% confidence) on the fraction of the total burst rate that could be contributed by a spatially homogeneous (in Euclidean space) subpopulation of burst sources, such as type Ib/c supernovae. These results lend support to the conclusions of previous studies predicting that relatively few faint classical GRBs will be found below the BATSE onboard detection threshold.
We report results of a comprehensive study of the soft gamma-ray (30 keV to 1.7 MeV) emission of GROJ0422+32 during its first known outburst in 1992. These results were derived from the BATSE earth-occultation database with the JPL data analysis package, EBOP (Enhanced BATSE Occultation Package). Results presented here focus primarily on the long-term temporal and spectral variability of the source emission associated with the outburst. The light curves with 1-day resolution in six broad energy-bands show the high-energy flux (>200 keV) led the low-energy flux (<200 keV) by ~5 days in reaching the primary peak, but lagged the latter by ~7 days in starting the declining phase. We confirm the secondary maximum of the low-energy (<200 keV) flux at TJD 8970-8981, ~120 days after the first maximum. Our data show that the secondary maximum was also prominent in the 200-300 keV band, but became less pronounced at higher energies. During this 200-day period, the spectrum evolved from a power-law with photon index of 1.75 on TJD 8839, to a shape that can be described by a Comptonized model or an exponential power law below 300 keV, with a variable power-law tail above 300 keV. The spectrum remained roughly in this two-component shape until ~9 November (TJD 8935) and then returned to the initial power-law shape with an index of ~2 until the end of the period. The correlation of the two spectral shapes with the high and low luminosities of the soft gamma-ray emission is strongly reminiscent of that seen in Cygnus X-1. We interpret these results in terms of the Advection Dominated Accretion Flow (ADAF) model with possibly a jet-like region that persistently produced the non-thermal power-law gamma rays observed throughout the event.
The X-ray emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is often characterized by an initial steep decay, followed by a nearly constant emission phase (so called plateau) which can extend up to thousands of seconds. While the steep decay is usually interpreted as the tail of the prompt gamma-ray flash, the long-lasting plateau is commonly associated to the emission from the external shock sustained by energy injection from a long lasting central engine. A recent study proposed an alternative interpretation, ascribing both the steep decay and the plateau to high-latitude emission (HLE) from a structured jet whose energy and bulk Lorentz factor depend on the angular distance from the jet symmetry axis. In this work we expand over this idea and explore more realistic conditions: (a) the finite duration of the prompt emission, (b) the angular dependence of the optical depth and (c) the lightcurve dependence on the observer viewing angle. We find that, when viewed highly off-axis, the structured jet HLE lightcurve is smoothly decaying with no clear distinction between the steep and flat phase, as opposed to the on-axis case. For a realistic choice of physical parameters, the effects of a latitude-dependent Thomson opacity and finite duration of the emission have a marginal effect on the overall lightcurve evolution. We discuss the possible HLE of GW170817, showing that the emission would have faded away long before the first Swift-XRT observations. Finally, we discuss the prospects for the detection of HLE from off-axis GRBs by present and future wide-field X-ray telescopes and X-ray surveys, such as eROSITA and the mission concept THESEUS.
The quasi-thermal components found in many Fermi gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) imply that the photosphere emission indeed contributes to the prompt emission of many GRBs. But whether the observed spectra empirically fitted by the Band function or cutoff power law, especially the spectral and peak energy ($E_{p}$) evolutions can be explained by the photosphere emission model alone needs further discussion. In this work, we investigate in detail the time-resolved spectra and $E_{p}$ evolutions of photospheric emission from a structured jet, with an inner-constant and outer-decreasing angular Lorentz factor profile. Also, a continuous wind with a time-dependent wind luminosity has been considered. We show that the photosphere spectrum near the peak luminosity is similar to the cutoff power-law spectrum. The spectrum can have the observed average low-energy spectral index $alpha $ $ sim -1$, and the distribution of the low-energy spectral index in our photosphere model is similar to that observed ($-2lesssim $ $alpha lesssim 0$). Furthermore, the two kinds of spectral evolutions during the decay phase, separated by the width of the core ($theta _{c}$), are consistent with the time-resolved spectral analysis results of several Fermi multi-pulse GRBs and single-pulse GRBs, respectively. Also, for this photosphere model we can reproduce the two kinds of observed $E_{p}$ evolution patterns rather well. Thus, by considering the photospheric emission from a structured jet, we reproduce the observations well for the GRBs best fitted by the cutoff power-law model for the peak-flux spectrum or the time-integrated spectrum.