GRB minimum variability timescale with Insight-HXMT and Swift: implications for progenitor models, dissipation physics and GRB classifications

Abstract

The dissipation process of GRB prompt emission is still unknown. Study of temporal variability may provide a unique way to discriminate the imprint of the inner engine activity from geometry and propagation related effects. We define the minimum variability timescale (MVT) as the shortest duration of individual pulses that shape a light curve for a sample of GRBs and test correlations with peak luminosity, Lorentz factor, and jet opening angle. We compare these correlations with predictions from recent numerical simulations for a relativistic structured -- possibly wobbling -- jet and assess the value of MTV as probe of prompt-emission physics. We used the peak detection algorithm mepsa to identify the shortest pulse within a GRB time history and estimate its full width half maximum (FWHM). We applied this framework to two sets of GRBs: Swift (from 2005 to July 2022) and Insight-HXMT (from June 2017 to July 2021, including 221009A). We then selected 401 GRBs with measured z to test for correlations. On average short GRBs have significantly shorter MVT than long GRBs. The MVT distribution of short GRBs with extended emission such as 060614 and 211211A is compatible only with that of short GRBs. This provides a new clue on the progenitor's nature. The MVT for long GRBs anticorrelates with peak luminosity. We confirm the anticorrelation with the Lorentz factor and find a correlation with the jet opening angle as estimated from the afterglow, along with an inverse correlation with the number of pulses. The MVT can identify the emerging putative new class of long GRBs that are suggested to be produced by compact binary mergers. For otherwise typical long GRBs, the different correlations between MVT and peak luminosity, Lorentz factor, jet opening angle, and number of pulses can be explained within the context of structured, possibly wobbling, weakly magnetised relativistic jets. (summarised)

arXiv comment18 pages, 15 figures, accepted by A&A

References in corpus (101)

• Collapsars - Gamma-Ray Bursts and Explosions in "Failed Supernovae"
• The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on the Swift MIDEX Mission
• Gamma-Ray Bursts as the Death Throes of Massive Binary Stars
• Are Gamma-Ray Bursts in Star Forming Regions?
• The Internal-Collision-Induced Magnetic Reconnection and Turbulence (ICMART) Model of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Hyper-Accreting Black Holes and Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Gamma-Ray Bursts: Progress, Problems & Prospects
• Can internal shocks produce the variability in GRBs?
• Swift detects a remarkable gamma-ray burst, GRB 060614, that introduces a new classification scheme
• Predictions for The Very Early Afterglow and The Optical Flash
• Short Gamma-Ray Bursts with Extended Emission
• No supernovae associated with two long-duration gamma ray bursts
• An enigmatic long-lasting gamma-ray burst not accompanied by a bright supernova
• Short Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts with Extended Emission from Proto-Magnetar Spin-Down
• A Kilonova Following a Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Burst at 350 Mpc
• The Third Swift Burst Alert Telescope Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog
• Overview to the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) Satellite
• Teraelectronvolt emission from the $\gamma$-ray burst GRB 190114C
• A nearby long gamma-ray burst from a merger of compact objects
• The Afterglows of Swift-era Gamma-Ray Bursts II.: Type I GRB versus Type II GRB Optical Afterglows
• REM observations of GRB 060418 and GRB 060607A: the onset of the afterglow and the initial fireball Lorentz factor determination
• A Possible Cepheid-Like Luminosity Estimator for the Long Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Short GRBs with Extended Emission from Magnetar Birth: Jet Formation and Collimation
• A long-duration gamma-ray burst with a peculiar origin
• Making a Short Gamma-Ray Burst from a Long one: Implications for the Nature of GRB 060614
• Short vs Long and Collapsars vs. non-Collapsar: a quantitative classification of GRBs
• Gamma-Ray Burst Peak Duration as a Function of Energy
• The lightcurve of the macronova associated with the long-short burst GRB 060614
• Off-Axis Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Modeling Based On A Two-Dimensional Axisymmetric Hydrodynamics Simulation
• The Medium Energy (ME) X-ray telescope onboard the Insight-HXMT astronomy satellite
• Discovery and confirmation of the shortest gamma ray burst from a collapsar
• Bulk Lorentz factors of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• The Konus-Wind catalog of gamma-ray bursts with known redshifts. I. Bursts detected in the triggered mode
• The structure of hydrodynamic $\gamma$-ray burst jets
• A complete sample of bright Swift short Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Short GRB Host Galaxies I: Photometric and Spectroscopic Catalogs, Host Associations, and Galactocentric Offsets
• Lorentz Factor-Isotropic Luminosity/Energy Correlations of GRBS and Their Interpretation
• Afterglow emission in Gamma-Ray Bursts: I. Pair-enriched ambient medium and radiative blast waves
• Astrophysics: A burst of new ideas
• The case for a minute-long merger-driven gamma-ray burst from fast-cooling synchrotron emission
• A Peculiarly Short-duration Gamma-Ray Burst from Massive Star Core Collapse
• The peculiar short-duration GRB 200826A and its supernova
• A bright gamma-ray flare interpreted as a giant magnetar flare in NGC 253
• Simulations of GRB Jets in a Stratified External Medium: Dynamics, Afterglow Lightcurves, Jet Breaks and Radio Calorimetry
• Multiwavelength analysis of the intriguing GRB 061126: the reverse shock scenario and magnetization
• Observational implications of gamma-ray burst afterglow jet simulations and numerical light curve calculations
• The Energy-Dependence of GRB Minimum Variability Timescales
• Minimum Variability Time Scales of Long and Short GRBs
• Short GRB Host Galaxies. II. A Legacy Sample of Redshifts, Stellar Population Properties, and Implications for their Neutron Star Merger Origins
• Uncovering the Intrinsic Variability of Gamma-ray Bursts
• Neutrino and cosmic-ray emission from multiple internal shocks in gamma-ray bursts
• The structure of weakly-magnetized $\gamma$-ray burst jets
• Black hole to breakout: 3D GRMHD simulations of collapsar jets reveal a wide range of transients
• Rapid Spectral Variability of a Giant Flare from a Magnetar in NGC 253
• Phenomenology of Reverse-Shock Emission in the Optical Afterglows of Gamma Ray Bursts
• The Bright and the Slow -- GRBs 100724B \& 160509A with high-energy cutoffs at $\lesssim 100$MeV
• Did Swift measure GRB prompt emission radii?
• Searches for Neutrinos from Gamma-Ray Bursts using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
• Light curves and spectra from off-axis gamma-ray bursts
• Gamma-ray burst jet propagation, development of angular structure, and the luminosity function
• Luminosity and Variability of Collimated Gamma-ray Bursts
• GRB 200415A: A Short Gamma-Ray Burst from a Magnetar Giant Flare?
• Thick fireballs and the steep decay in the early X-ray afterglow of gamma-ray bursts
• What did we learn from gamma-ray burst 080319B ?
• The nature of the outflow in gamma-ray bursts
• A Tight $L_{\mathrm{p},\mathrm{iso}}-E_{\mathrm{p}}^{\prime }-{\Gamma }_0$ Correlation of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Temporal Deconvolution study of Long and Short Gamma-Ray Burst Light curves
• Precession of neutrino-cooled accretion disks in gamma-ray burst engines
• High efficiency photospheric emission entailed by formation of a collimation shock in gamma-ray bursts
• Can precessing jets explain the light curves of Gamma-ray Bursts?
• Individual power density spectra of Swift gamma-ray bursts
• The GRB Variability/Peak Luminosity Correlation: new results
• A model of the light curves of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• On the jet-ejecta interaction in 3D GRMHD simulations of binary neutron star merger aftermath
• Gamma-Ray Bursts as Sources of Strong Magnetic Fields
• Multi-messenger light curves from gamma-ray bursts in the internal shock model
• Statistical study of gamma-ray bursts with jet break feature in multi-wavelength afterglow emissions
• The slope of the GRB Variability/Peak Luminosity Correlation
• Intermittent hydrodynamic jets in collapsars do not produce GRBs
• Polarimetry and Photometry of Gamma-Ray Bursts with RINGO2
• GRB 211211A: a Prolonged Central Engine under a Strong Magnetic Field Environment
• Intermittent mildly magnetized jets as the source of GRBs
• The Minimum Variability Time Scale and its Relation to Pulse Profiles of Fermi GRBs
• Timing in the Time Domain: Cygnus X-1
• The extension of variability properties in gamma-ray bursts to blazars
• Gamma-Ray Bursts: Temporal Scales and the Bulk Lorentz Factor
• The First Insight-HXMT Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog: The First Four Years
• A short gamma-ray burst from a proto-magnetar remnant
• Investigating signatures of cosmological time dilation in duration measures of prompt gamma-ray burst light curves
• Characteristics of Long Gamma-Ray bursts in the Comoving Frame
• What can we learn about GRB from the variability timescale related correlations?
• Correlation between peak energy and Fourier power density spectrum slope in gamma-ray bursts
• On the temporal variability classes found in long gamma-ray bursts with known redshift
• Temporal variability of GRB early X-ray afterglows and GRB080319B prompt emission
• Gamma-Ray Bursts: To be Short or Long is not the Question
• Multi-Wavelength Observations of GRB 111228A and Implications for the Fireball and its environment
• Early Optical Observations of GRB 150910A: Bright Jet Optical Afterglow and X-ray Dipole Radiation from a Magnetar Central Engine
• Precessing jets interacting with interstellar material as the origin for the light curves of gamma-ray bursts
• The removal method and generation mechanism of spikes in Insight-HXMT/HE telescope
• The Maximum Isotropic Equivalent Energy Of Gamma Ray Bursts
• Variability of magnetically-dominated jets from accreting black holes

Cited by in corpus (24)

• Flares, jets and quasi-periodic outbursts from neutron star merger remnants
• Triggering the Untriggered: The First Einstein Probe-Detected Gamma-Ray Burst 240219A and Its Implications
• Evidence for two distinct populations of kilonova-associated Gamma Ray Bursts
• Extreme Variability in a Long Duration Gamma-ray Burst Associated with a Kilonova
• Distribution of number of peaks within a long gamma-ray burst
• The puzzling long GRB 191019A: Evidence for Kilonova Light
• Swift/UVOT: 18 Years of Long GRB Discoveries and Advances
• A set of distinctive properties ruling the prompt emission of GRB 230307A and other long γ-ray bursts from compact object mergers
• Maximal Jet Energy of Gamma-Ray Bursts through the Blandford-Znajek Mechanism
• Prompt GRB recognition through waterfalls and deep learning
• Evidence for a brief appearance of gamma-ray periodicity after a compact star merger
• Long gamma-ray burst light curves as the result of a common stochastic pulse-avalanche process
• New results on the gamma-ray burst variability-luminosity relation
• GRB minimum variability timescales with Fermi/GBM
• The dispersion of $E_{\mathrm{p},\mathrm{i}}$-$L_{\mathrm{iso}}$ correlation of long gamma-ray bursts is partially due to assembling different sources
• GRB 241105A: A test case for GRB classification and rapid r-process nucleosynthesis channels
• How Distance Affects GRB Prompt Emission Measurements
• Gamma-ray burst taxonomy: looking for the third class on the spectral peak energy-duration plane in the rest frame
• Searching for quasi-periodicities in short transients: the curious case of GRB 230307A
• A search for periodic activity in multi-peaked long gamma-ray bursts
• Kilonova and progenitor properties of merger-driven gamma-ray bursts
• FAST-MEPSA: an optimised and faster version of peak detection algorithm MEPSA
• Average Power-Density Spectrum of short and long Fermi-GBM Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Harmonic brightness oscillations point to magnetar giant flares in rare short gamma-ray bursts