Long and short high energy components presented in GRBs

We present a leptonic model on the external shock framework to describe the long- and short- lasting GeV component of some GRBs. This model was already applied successfully to GRB 090926A, and we extend it to describe the high-energy emission of GRB 090902B and GRB 090510. We argue that the high-energy emission consists of two components, one at MeV energies with a duration of a few seconds during the prompt phase, and a second GeV component lasting hundred of seconds after the prompt phase. The short high-energy component can be described as SSC emission from a reverse shock and the longer component arises from SSC emission of the forward shock. The main assumption of our model is that the jet is magnetized and evolves in the thick-shell case. The calculated fluxes and break energies are all consistent with the observed values.

GRB980923. A burst with a short duration high energy component

The prompt emission of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) is usually well described by the Band function: two power-laws joined smoothly at a given break energy. In addition to the Band component, a few bursts (GRB941017, GRB090510, GRB090902B and GRB090926A) show clear evidence for a distinct high-energy spectral component, which in some cases evolves independently from the prompt keV component and is well described by a power-law (PL), sometimes with a cut-off energy; this component is found to have long duration, even longer than the burst itself for all the four bursts. Here we report the observation of an anomalous short duration high energy component in GRB980923. GRB980923 is one of the brightest Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) observed by BATSE. Its light curve is characterized by a rapid variability phase lasting ~ 40 s, followed by a smooth emission tail lasting ~ 400 s. A detailed joint analysis of BATSE (LAD and SD) and EGRET TASC data of GRB980923 reveles the presence of an anomalous keV to MeV component in the spectrum that evolves independently from the prompt keV one. This component is well described by a PL with a spectral index of -1.44 and lasts only ~ 2 s; it represents one of the three clearly separated spectral components identified in GRB980923, the other two being the keV prompt emission, well described by the Band function and the tail, well fit by a Smoothly Broken Power Law (SBPL).