GRB 220426A: A Thermal Radiation-Dominated Gamma-Ray Burst

Abstract

The physical composition of the ejecta of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) remains an open question. The radiation mechanism of the prompt gamma rays is also in debate. This problem can be solved for the bursts hosting distinct thermal radiation. However, the events with dominant thermal spectral components are still rare. In this work, we focus on GRB 220426A, a recent event detected by Fermi-GBM. The time-resolved and time-integrated data analyses yield very hard low-energy spectral indices and rather soft high-energy spectral indices. This means that the spectra of GRB 220426A are narrowly distributed. And the Bayesian inference results are in favor of the multicolor blackbody (mBB) model. The physical properties of the relativistic outflow are calculated. Assuming a redshift $z=1.4$, the bulk Lorentz factors $\hat{I}“$ of the shells are found to be between $274_{-18}^{+24}$ and $827_{-71}^{+100}$, and the corresponding photosphere radii $R_{\mathrm{ph}}$ are in the range of $1.83_{-0.50}^{+0.52}\times 10^{11}$ and $2.97_{-0.15}^{+0.14}\times 10^{12}$ cm. Similar to GRB 090902B, the time-resolved properties of GRB 220426A satisfy the observed $\hat{I}“-L$ and $E_p-L$ correlations, where $L$ is the luminosity of the prompt emission and $E_p$ is the spectral peak energy.

14 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables; Accepted for publication in ApJ