SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

B. Stern

Publications and source records attributed to B. Stern.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

GRB 221009A, its precursor and two afterglows in the Fermi data

We study GRB 221009A, the brightest gamma-ray burst in the history of observations, using Fermi data. To calibrate them for large inclination angles, we use the Vela X gamma-ray source. Light curves in different spectral ranges demonstrate a 300 s overlap of afterglow and delayed episodes of soft prompt emission. We demonstrate that a relatively weak burst precursor that occurs 3 minutes before the main episode has its own afterglow, i.e., presumably, its own external shock. The main afterglow is the brightest one, includes a photon with an energy of 400 GeV 9 hours after the burst, and is visible in the LAT data for up to two days.

astro-ph.HE

Soft Gamma-Ray Bursts in the BATSE data

We performed the scan of the BATSE DISCLA records inspecting 25-50 keV range to pick up soft GRBs. We applied the same technique as in our previous (Stern et al. 2001) scan in the 50-300 keV range. We scanned about 1.8 year of the data and found 30 new gamma-ray burst (GRB)s. The total number of soft GRBs in the BATSE data, with the count rate in the 25-50 keV range higher than in the 50-300 keV range, is only 4%. There are about two extremely soft events per year which are invisible about 50 keV and which could constitute a new class of events separate from the GRB phenomenon. We also show that X-ray flashes (XRFs) detected by BeppoSAX have a hardness ratio very similar to that of normal GRBs, supporting a view that XRFs and GRBs are a single phenomenon with a wide spectral variety.

astro-ph

The Interplanetary Network Supplement to the BATSE Catalogs of Untriggered Cosmic Gamma Ray Bursts

We present Interplanetary Network (IPN) detection and localization information for 211 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed as untriggered events by the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE), and published in catalogs by Kommers et al. (2001) and Stern et al. (2001). IPN confirmations have been obtained by analyzing the data from 11 experiments. For any given burst observed by BATSE and one other distant spacecraft, arrival time analysis (or ``triangulation'') results in an annulus of possible arrival directions whose half-width varies between 14 arcseconds and 5.6 degrees, depending on the intensity, time history, and arrival direction of the burst, as well as the distance between the spacecraft. This annulus generally intersects the BATSE error circle, resulting in a reduction of the area of up to a factor of ~650. When three widely separated spacecraft observed a burst, the result is an error box whose area is as much as 30000 times smaller than that of the BATSE error circle. Because the IPN instruments are considerably less sensitive than BATSE, they generally did not detect the weakest untriggered bursts, but did detect the more intense ones which failed to trigger BATSE when the trigger was disabled. In a few cases, we have been able to identify the probable origin of bursts as soft gamma repeaters. The vast majority of the IPN-detected events, however, are GRBs, and the confirmation of them validates many of the procedures utilized to detect BATSE untriggered bursts.

astro-ph

Observations of giant outbursts from Cygnus X-1

We present interplanetary network localization, spectral, and time history information for 7 episodes of exceptionally intense gamma-ray emission from Cygnus X-1. The outbursts occurred between 1995 and 2003, with durations up to \~28000 seconds. The observed 15 - 300 keV peak fluxes and fluences reached 3E-7 erg /cm2 s, and 8E-4 erg / cm2 respectively. By combining the triangulations of these outbursts we derive an ~1700 square arcminute (3 sigma) error ellipse which contains Cygnus X-1 and no other known high energy sources. The outbursts reported here occurred both when Cyg X-1 was in the hard state as well as in the soft one, and at various orbital phases. The spectral data indicate that these outbursts display the same parameters as those of the underlying hard and soft states, suggesting that they represent another manifestation of these states.

astro-ph

Search for Non-Triggered Gamma Ray Bursts in the BATSE Continuous Records: Preliminary Results

We present preliminary results of an off-line search for non-triggered gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in the BATSE daily records for about 5.7 years of observations. We found more GRB-like events than the yield of the similar search of Kommers et al. (1998) and extended the Log N - log P distribution down to $\sim$ 0.1 ph cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. The indication of a turnover of the log N - log P at a small P is not confirmed: the distribution is straight at 1.5 decades with the power law index -.6 and cannot be fitted with a standard candle cosmological model.

astro-ph