Systematic study of the peak energy of the broad-band Gamma-Ray Burst

Abstract

We have performed a systematic study of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), which have various values in the peak energy of the $\nu F_{\nu }$ spectrum of the prompt emission, $E_{\mathrm{peak}}$, observed by \textsl{Swift}/BAT and \textsl{Fermi}/GBM, investigating their prompt and X-ray afterglow emissions. We cataloged the long-lasting GRBs observed by the \textsl{Swift} between 2004 December and 2014 February in 3 categories according to the classification by \citet{2008ApJ...679..570S}: X-Ray Flashes (XRFs), X-Ray Rich GRBs (XRRs), and Classical GRBs (C-GRBs). We then derived $E_{\mathrm{peak}}^{\mathrm{obs}}$, as well as $E_{\mathrm{peak}}^{\mathrm{src}}$ if viable, of the \textsl{Swift} spectra of their prompt emission. We also analyzed their X-Ray afterglows and found the trend that the GRB events with a lower $E_{\mathrm{peak}}^{\mathrm{src}}$, i.e. softer GRBs, are fainter in the 0.3--10 keV X-ray luminosity and decay more slowly than harder GRBs. The intrinsic event rates of the XRFs, XRRs, and C-GRBs were calculated, using the \textsl{Swift}/BAT trigger algorithm. That of either of the XRRs and XRFs is larger than that of the C-GRBs. If we assume that the observational diversity of $E_{\mathrm{peak}}$ is explained with the off-axis model \citep{2002ApJ...571L..31Y,2004ApJ...607L..103Y}, these results yield the jet half-opening angle of $\Delta \theta \sim 0.3^{\circ }$, and the variance of the observing angles ${\theta }_{\mathrm{obs}}\lesssim 0.6^{\circ }$. This implies that the tiny variance of the observing angles of $\lesssim 0.6^{\circ }$ would be responsible for the $E_{\mathrm{peak}}$ diversity observed by \textsl{Swift}/BAT, which is unrealistic. Therefore, we conclude that the $E_{\mathrm{peak}}$ diversity is not explained with the off-axis model, but is likely to originate from some intrinsic properties of the jets.

32 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (4)

• Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Three Year Results: Implications for Cosmology
• The Supernova -- Gamma-Ray Burst Connection
• Global Properties of X-Ray Flashes and X-Ray-Rich Gamma-Ray Bursts Observed by Swift
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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Constraining the intrinsic population of Long Gamma-Ray Bursts: implications for spectral correlations, cosmic evolution and their use as tracers of star formation
• On Spectral Peak Energy of Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Overall Spectral Properties of Prompt Emissions with Diverse Segments in Swift/BAT Short Gamma-ray Bursts