Is the metallicity of the progenitor of long gamma-ray bursts really low?

Abstract

Observations of long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) offer a unique opportunity for probing the cosmic star formation history, although whether or not LGRB rates are biased tracers of star formation rate history is highly debated. Based on an extensive sample of LGRBs compiled by Robertson & Ellis (2012), we analyze various models of star formation rate and the possible effect of the evolution of cosmic metallicity under the assumption that LGRBs tend to occur in low-metallicity galaxies. The models of star formation rate tested in this work include empirical fits from observational data as well as a self-consistent model calculated in the framework of the hierarchical structure formation. Comparing with the observational data, we find a relatively higher metallicity cut of $Z\gtrsim 0.6Z_{\odot }$ for the empirical fits and no metallicity cut for the self-consistent model. These results imply that there is no strong metallicity preference for the host galaxy of LGRBs, in contrast to previous work which suggest a cut of $Z\sim 0.1-0.3Z_{\odot }$, and that the inferred dependencies of LGRBs on their host galaxy properties are strongly related to the specific models of star formation rate. Furthermore, a significant fraction of LGRBs occur in small dark matter halos down to $3\times 10^8{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$ can provide an alternative explanation for the discrepancy between the star formation rate history and LGRB rate history.

15 pages, 7 figures, ApJ accepted

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• Cosmological Tests Using GRBs, the Star Formation Rate and Possible Abundance Evolution
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• The Luminosity Function and Formation Rate of A Complete Sample of Long Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Long GRBs are metallicity-biased tracers of star formation: evidence from host galaxies and redshift distribution
• Energy function, formation rate and low-metallicity environment of fast radio bursts
• Gamma-ray burst cosmology: Hubble diagram and star formation history
• GRBs and fundamental physics
• Connecting the Cosmic Star Formation Rate with the Local Star Formation
• The Stellar-mass Function of Long Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxies
• Revisiting the Relationship between the Long GRB Rate and Cosmic Star Formation History Based on a Large Swift Sample
• Luminosity Function of collapsar Gamma-Ray Bursts:the Progenitor of Long Gamma-Ray Bursts Is Not Singular
• The gamma-ray bursts and core-collapse supernovae - global star forming rate peaks at large redshifts
• The redshift evolution of the luminosity function of type II GRBs
• The metallicity dependence of long-duration gamma-ray bursts