Gravitational radiation from precessing accretion disks in gamma-ray bursts

Abstract

We study the precession of accretion disks in the context of gamma-ray burst inner engines. Our aim is to quantitatively estimate the characteristics of gravitational waves produced by the precession of the transient accretion disk in gamma-ray bursts. We evaluate the possible periods of disk precession caused by the Lense-Thirring effect using an accretion disk model that allows for neutrino cooling. Assuming jet ejection perpendicular to the disk plane and a typical intrinsic time-dependence for the burst, we find gamma-ray light curves that have a temporal microstructure similar to that observed in some reported events. The parameters obtained for the precession are then used to evaluate the production of gravitational waves. We find that the precession of accretion disks of outer radius smaller than $10^8$ cm and accretion rates above 1 solar mass per second could be detected by Advanced LIGO if they occur at distances of less than 100 Mpc. We conclude that the precession of a neutrino-cooled accretion disk in long gamma-ray bursts can be probed by gravitational wave astronomy. Precession of the disks in short gamma-ray events is undetectable with the current technology.

5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (3)

• GRB afterglow plateaus and Gravitational Waves: multi-messenger signature of a millisecond magnetar?
• Low-Luminosity Gamma-Ray Bursts as a Distinct GRB Population:A Firmer Case from Multiple Criteria Constraints
• Constraints on the Mass Accretion Rate of Neutrino-Cooled Disks in Gamma-Ray Bursts

Cited by in corpus (11)

• The Physics of Gamma-Ray Bursts and Relativistic Jets
• Search for gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts detected by the InterPlanetary Network
• The Lunar Gravitational-wave Antenna: Mission Studies and Science Case
• Numerical and analytical solutions of Neutrino-Dominated Accretion Flows with a Non-Zero Torque Boundary Condition and its applications in Gamma-ray Bursts
• Variability of the giant X-ray bump in GRB 121027A and possible origin
• Vertical convection in neutrino-dominated accretion flows
• Anisotropic multimessenger signals from black hole neutrino-dominated accretion flows with outflows in binary compact object mergers
• Energy injection driven by precessing jets in gamma-ray burst afterglows
• Relativistic global solutions of neutrino-dominated accretion flows with magnetic coupling
• Collapsar Disk Outflows III: Detectable Neutrino and Gravitational Wave Signatures
• First Order Axial Perturbation of the Reissner-Nordström Metric in a Possible Parity-Violating Gravity Background