paper

Comprehensive study of the X-ray flares from gamma-ray bursts observed by Swift

arXiv:1603.07429 · doi:10.3847/0067-0049/224/2/20

Abstract

X-ray flares are generally supposed to be produced by the later central engine activities, and may share the similar physical origin with prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In this paper, we have analyzed all significant X-ray flares from the GRBs observed by {\em Swift} from April 2005 to March 2015. The catalog contains 468 bright X-ray flares, including 200 flares with redshifts. We obtain the fitting results of X-ray flares, such as start time, peak time, duration, peak flux, fluence, peak luminosity, and mean luminosity. The peak luminosity decreases with peak time, following a power-law behavior . The flare duration increases with peak time. The 0.3-10 keV isotropic energy of X-ray flares distribution is a lognormal peaked at erg. We also study the frequency distributions of flare parameters, including energies, durations, peak fluxes, rise times, decay times and waiting times. Power-law distributions of energies, durations, peak fluxes, and waiting times are found in GRB X-ray flares and solar flares. These distributions could be well explained by a fractal-diffusive, self-organized criticality model. Some theoretical models basing on magnetic reconnection have been proposed to explain X-ray flares. Our result shows that the relativistic jets of GRBs may be Poynting-flux dominated.

arXiv comment36 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJS

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