arXiv subjects

En-Wei Liang

Publications and source records attributed to En-Wei Liang.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Blazar Anti-Sequence of Spectral Variability for Individual TeV Blazars

We compile from literature the broadband SEDs of twelve TeV blazars observed simultaneously or quasi-simultaneously with Fermi/LAT and other instruments. Two SEDs are available for each of the objects and the state is identified as a low or high state according to its flux density at GeV/TeV band. The observed SEDs of BL Lac objects (BL Lacs) are fitted well with the synchrotron + synchrotron-self-Compton (syn+SSC) model, whereas the SEDs of the two flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) need to include the contributions of external Compton scattering. In this scenario, it is found that the Doppler factor delta of FSRQs is smaller than that of BL Lacs, but the magnetic field strength B of FSRQs is larger than that of BL Lacs. The increase of the peak frequency of the SEDs is accompanied with the increase of the flux for the individual sources, which seems opposite to the observational phenomena of the blazar sequence. We refer this phenomenon to blazar anti-sequence of spectral variability for individual TeV blazars. However, both the blazar sequence from FSRQs to BL Lacs and blazar anti-sequence of the spectral variability from low state to high state are accompanied by an increase of the break Lorentz factor of the electron's spectrum gamma_b and a decrease of B. We propose a model in which the mass accretion rate is the driving force behind both the blazar sequence for ensembles of blazars and the blazar anti-sequence for individual blazars. Specifically we suggest that the differences in mass accretion rate of different blazars produce the observed blazar sequence, but ΔM in each blazar results in the observed blazar anti-sequence.

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arXiv2012

Physical origin of multi-wavelength emission of GRB 100418A and implications for its progenitor

GRB 100418A is a long burst at z=0.624 without detection of any associated supernova (SN). Its lightcurves in both the prompt and afterglow phases are similar to GRB 060614, a nearby long GRB without an associated SN. We analyze the observational data of this event and discuss the possible origins of its multi-wavelength emission. We show that its joint lightcurve at 1 keV derived from Swift BAT and XRT observations is composed of two distinguished components. The first component, whose spectrum is extremely soft (Γ= 4.32), ends with a steep decay segment, indicating the internal origin of this component. The second component is a slowly-rising, broad bump which peaks at ~10^5 seconds post the BAT trigger. Assuming that the late bump is due to onset of the afterglow, we derive the initial Lorentz factor (Gamma_0) of the GRB fireball and find that it significantly deviates from the relation between the Gamma_0 and Eiso of typical GRBs. We also check whether it follows the same anti-correlation between X-ray luminosity and the break time observed in the shallow decay phase of many typical GRBs, which is usually regarded as a signal of late energy injection from the GRB central engine. However, we find that it does not obey this correlation. We propose that the late bump could be contributed by a two-component jet. We fit the second component with an off-axis jet model for a constant medium density and find the late bump can be represented by the model. The derived jet half-opening angle is 0.30 rad and the viewing angle is 0.315 rad. The medium density is 0.05 cm^-3, possibly suggesting that it may be from a merger of compact stars. The similarity between GRBs 060614 and 100418A may indicate that the two GRBs are from the same population and the late bump observed in the two GRBs may be a signal of a two-component jet powered by the GRB central engine.

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arXiv2012

Lorentz Factor-Isotropic Luminosity/Energy Correlations of GRBS and Their Interpretation

The bulk Lorentz factor of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) ejecta (Gamma_0) is a key parameter to understand the GRB physics. Liang et al. have discovered a correlation between Gamma_0 and isotropic gamma-ray energy: Gamma_0\proptoE_{gamma,iso,52}^{0.25}. By including more GRBs with updated data and more methods to derive Gamma_0, we confirm this correlation and obtain Gamma_0~91E_{gamma,iso,52}^{0.29}. Evaluating the mean isotropic gamma-ray luminosities L_{gamma,iso} of the GRBs in the same sample, we discover an even tighter correlation Gamma_0~249 L_{gamma,iso,52}^{0.30}. We propose an interpretation to this later correlation. Invoking a neutrino-cooled hyperaccretion disk around a stellar mass black hole as the central engine of GRBs, we derive jet luminosity powered by neutrino annihilation and baryon loading from a neutrino-driven wind. Applying beaming correction, we finally derive Gamma_0\proptoL_{gamma,iso}^{0.22}, which is well consistent with the data. This suggests that the central engine of long GRBs is likely a stellar mass black hole surrounded by a hyper-accreting disk.

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arXiv2012

Statistical Properties of Multiple Optical Emission Components in Gamma-Ray Bursts and Implications

Well-sampled optical lightcurves of 146 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are complied from the literature. Multiple optical emission components are extracted with power-law function fits to these lightcurves. We present a systematical analysis for statistical properties and their relations to prompt gamma-ray emission and X-ray afterglow for each component. We show that peak luminosity in the prompt and late flares are correlated and the evolution of the peak luminosity may signal the evolution of the accretion rate. No tight correlation between the shallow decay phase/plateau and prompt gamma-ray emission is found. Assuming that they are due to a long-lasting wind injected by a compact object, we show that the injected behavior favors the scenarios of a long-lasting wind after the main burst episode. The peak luminosity of the afterglow onset is tightly correlated with Eiso, and it is dimmer as peaking later. Assuming that the onset bump is due to the fireball deceleration by the external medium, we examine the Gamma_0-Eiso relation and find that it is confirmed with the current sample. Optical re-brightening is observed in 30 GRBs in our sample. It shares the same relation between the width and the peak time as found in the onset bump, but no clear correlation between the peak luminosity and Eiso as observed in the onset bumps is found. Although its peak luminosity also decays with time, the slope is much shallower than that of the onset peak. We get L t^{-1}_{p}$, being consistent with off-axis observations to an expanding external fireball in a wind-like circum medium. The late re-brightening may signal another jet component. Mixing of different emission components may be the reason for the observed chromatic breaks in different energy bands.

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arXiv2012

Observational constraints on the external shock prior emission hypothesis of GRBs

An intriguing hypothesis, that there exists a decaying X-ray emission component before the GRB trigger, has been suggested in order to explain the shallow decay phase of the X-ray afterglow detected in many Swift GRBs. If this "prior emission" is from an external shock, one would expect a corresponding optical emission component during the GRB prompt emission phase. In this paper we apply the available prompt optical emission data (both detections and upper limits) to constrain such a scenario. We fit the shallow and normal decay segments of the XRT light curves in our sample with a T_Δ-shifted single power law, and extrapolate the X-ray flux back to the time of the early optical observations. We then use the synchrotron spectrum predicted by the standard external shock model to extrapolate from the X-ray flux to the optical band, and obtain the possible range of the predicted optical flux. Finally, we compare the predictions with the observations. In the cases where later optical data are available, we also compare the shapes of the optical light curves to the predicted optical light curves from the external shock prior emission model. We find that for a good fraction of GRBs (4 out of 8; up to December 2006), the available data already impose severe constraints on the hypothesis. In particular, the expected optical flux from the prior external shock model is higher than what the data allow. We conclude that if the shallow-decay X-ray component were from a prior emission component, it would have to be of an internal origin with optical flux suppressed.

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arXiv2012

Selection Effects on the Observed Redshift Dependence of GRB Jet Opening Angles

Apparent redshift dependence of the jet opening angles ($θ_{\rm j}$) of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is observed from current GRB sample. We investigate whether this dependence can be explained with instrumental selection effects and observational biases by a bootstrapping method. Assuming that (1) the GRB rate follows the star formation history and the cosmic metallicity history and (2) the intrinsic distributions of the jet-corrected luminosity ($L_{\rm γ}$) and $θ_{\rm j}$ are a Gaussian or a power-law function, we generate a mock {\em Swift}/BAT sample by considering various instrumental selection effects, including the flux threshold and the trigger probability of BAT, the probabilities of a GRB jet pointing to the instrument solid angle and the probability of redshift measurement. Our results well reproduce the observed $θ_{\rm j}-z$ dependence. We find that in case of $L_γ\propto θ_{\rm j}^2$ good consistency between the mock and observed samples can be obtained, indicating that both $L_{\rm γ}$ and $θ_{\rm j}$ are degenerate for a flux-limited sample. The parameter set $(L_{\rm γ}, θ_{\rm j})=(4.9\times 10^{49} \rm {erg\ s}^{-1},\ 0.054 {rad})$ gives the best consistency for the current {\em Swift} GRB sample. Considering the beaming effect, the derived intrinsic local GRB rate accordingly is $2.85\times 10^2$ Gpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$, inferring that $\sim 0.59%$ of Type Ib/c SNe may be accompanied by a GRB.

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arXiv2011

Radiation Mechanisms and Physical Properties of GeV-TeV BL Lac Objects

Broadband spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are complied from literature for 24 TeV BL Lac objects. Two SEDs, which are identified as low and high states with their flux densities at $1\ {\rm TeV}$ ($F_{1 TeV}$), are available for each of 11 objects. We fit the SEDs with the single-zone synchrotron + synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) model and determine the physical parameters of the jets. The model well represents the SEDs, and the observed relation between two peak frequencies $ν_{\rm s}$ and $ν_{\rm c}$ also favors the model. It is found that the break of the electron spectrum ($γ_{\rm b}$) is different among sources, but magnetic field strength distributes narrowly in $0.1-0.6 $ G, indicating that the shocks in the jets are significantly different among sources and the magnetic field may be independent of the shocks. The ratio of $F_{1 TeV}$ is correlated with the ratio of the $γ_{\rm b}$ in the low and high states, indicating that the relativistic shocks in the jets may be responsible for the observed flux variations and the spectral shift. The ratio of the two peak luminosities $L_{\rm c}/L_{\rm s}$ is anti-correlated with $ν_{\rm s}$ in the co-moving frame, which is possibly due to the Klein-Nishina effect. No excess in the GeV band due to the interaction between the TeV photons and the extragalactic background light is observed, implying that the strength of the intergalactic magnetic field would be much larger than $ 10^{-16}$ G. An anti-correlation between jet power and the mass of the central black hole is observed, i.e., $P_{\rm jet}\propto M^{-1}_{\rm BH}$, disfavoring the scenario of a pure accretion-driven jet. We suggest that the spin energy extraction may be significant for powering jets in these sources, implying that the black holes with smaller mass may spin more rapidly.

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arXiv2011

A Comprehensive Analysis of Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Data. I. Spectral Components and Their Possible Physical Origins of LAT/GBM GRBs

We present a systematic analysis of the spectral and temporal properties of 17 GRBs co-detected by GBM and LAT on board the Fermi satellite by May 2010. We performed a time-resolved spectral analysis of all the bursts with the finest temporal resolution allowed by statistics, in order to avoid temporal smearing of different spectral components. We found that the time-resolved spectra of 14 out of 17 GRBs are best modeled with the Band function over the entire Fermi spectral range, which may suggest a common origin for emissions detected by LAT and GBM. GRB 090902B and GRB 090510 require the superposition between an MeV component and an extra power law component, with the former having a sharp cutoff above E_p. For GRB 090902B, this MeV component becomes progressively narrower as the time bin gets smaller, and can be fit with a Planck function as the time bin becomes small enough. In general, we speculate that phenomenologically there may be three elemental spectral components : (I) a Band-function component (e.g. in GRB 080916C) that extends in a wide energy range and does not narrow with reducing time bins, which may be of the non-thermal origin; (II) a quasi-thermal component (e.g. in GRB 090902B) with the spectra progressively narrowing with reducing time bins; and (III) another non-thermal power law component extending to high energies. The spectra of different bursts may be decomposed into one or more of these elemental components. We compare this sample with the BATSE sample and investigate some correlations among spectral parameters. We discuss the physical implications of the data analysis results for GRB prompt emission, including jet compositions (matter-dominated vs. Poynting-flux-dominated outflow), emission sites (internal shock, external shock or photosphere), as well as radiation mechanisms (synchrotron, synchrotron self-Compton, or thermal Compton upscattering).

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arXiv2010

XRF 100316D/SN 2010bh: clue to the diverse origin of nearby supernova-associated GRBs

X-ray Flash (XRF) 100316D, a nearby super-long under-luminous burst with a peak energy E_p \sim 20 keV, was detected by Swift and was found to be associated with an energetic supernova SN 2010bh. Both the spectral and the temporal behavior of this burst are rather similar to that of XRF 060218, except that the latter was associated with a "less energetic" SN 2006aj and had a prominent soft thermal emission component in the spectrum. We analyze the spectral and temporal properties of this burst, and interpret the prompt gamma-ray emission and the early X-ray plateau emission as synchrotron emission from a dissipating Poynting-flux-dominated outflow, probably powered by a magnetar with a spin period of $P \sim 10$ ms and the polar cap magnetic field $B_{\rm p} \sim 3\times 10^{15}$ G. The energetic supernova SN 2010bh associated with this burst is, however, difficult to interpret within the slow magnetar model, which implies that the nascent magnetar may spin much faster with an initial rotation period $\sim 1$ ms, and thus suggests a delay between the core collapse and the emergence of the relativistic magnetar wind from the star. The diverse behaviors of low-luminosity GRBs and their associated SNe may be understood within a unified picture that invokes different initial powers of the central engine and different delay times between the core collapse and the emergence of the relativistic jet from the star.

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arXiv2010

The $E_{\rm p}$-Flux Correlation in the Rising and Decaying Phases of Gamma-Ray Burst Pulses: Evidence for Viewing Angle Effect?

A time-resolved spectral analysis for a sample of 22 intense, broad GRB pulses from the BATSE GRB sample is presented. We fit the spectra with the Band function and investigate the correlation between the observed flux (F) and the peak energy (E_p) of the $νf_ν$ spectrum in the rising and decaying phases of these pulses. Two kinds of E_p evolution trends, i.e., hard-to-soft (the two-third pulses in our sample) and $E_{\rm p}$-tracing-$F$ (the one-third pulses in our sample) are observed in pulses from different GRBs and even from different pulses of the same burst. No dependence of spectral evolution feature on the pulse shape is found. A tight $F-E_{\rm p}$ positive correlation is observed in the decaying phases, with a power-law index $\sim 2.2$, which is much shallower than that expectation of the curvature effect. In the rising phase, the observed $F$ is either correlated or anti-correlated with $E_{\rm p}$, depending on the spectral evolution feature, and the power-law index of the correlation is dramatically different among pulses. More than $80%$ of the low energy photon indices in the time-resolved spectra whose $E_{\rm p}$ is anti-correlated with $F$ during the rising phase violate the death line of the synchrotron radiation, disfavoring the synchrotron radiation model for these gamma-rays. The $F-E_{\rm p}$ correlation, especially for those GRBs with $E_{\rm p}$-tracking-$F$ spectral evolution, may be due to the viewing angle and jet structure effects. In this cenario, the observed $F-E_{\rm p}$ correlation in the rising phase may be due to the line of sight from off-beam to on-beam toward a structured jet (or jitter), and the decaying phase is contributed by both the on-beam emission and the decayed photons from high latitude of the GRB fireball,resulting in a shallower slope of the observed $F-E_{\rm p}$ correlation than that predicted by the pure curvature effect.

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arXiv2010

Jet Precession Driven by Neutrino-Cooled Disc for Gamma-Ray Bursts

A model of jet precession driven by a neutrino-cooled disc around a spinning black hole is present in order to explain the temporal structure and spectral evolution of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The differential rotation of the outer part of a neutrino dominated accretion disc may result in precession of the inner part of the disc and the central black hole, hence drives a precessed jet via neutrino annihilation around the inner part of the disc. Both analytic and numeric results for our model are present. Our calculations show that a black hole-accretion disk system with black hole mass $M \simeq 3.66 M_\odot$, accretion rate $\dot{M} \simeq 0.54 M_\odot \rm s^{-1}$, spin parameter $a=0.9$ and viscosity parameter $α=0.01$ may drive a precessed jet with period P=1 s and luminosity $L=10^{51}$ erg s$^{-1}$, corresponding to the scenario for long GRBs. A precessed jet with $P=0.1$s and $L=10^{50}$ erg s$^{-1}$ may be powered by a system with $M \simeq 5.59 M_\odot$, $\dot{M} \simeq 0.74 M_\odot \rm s^{-1}$, $a=0.1$, and $α=0.01$, possibly being responsible for the short GRBs. Both the temporal and spectral evolution in GRB pulse may explained with our model. GRB central engines likely power a precessed jet driven by a neutrino-cooled disc. The global GRB lightcurves thus could be modulated by the jet precession during the accretion timescale of the GRB central engine. Both the temporal and spectral evolution in GRB pulse may be due to an viewing effect due to the jet precession.

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arXiv2010

Simulations on High-z Long Gamma-Ray Burst Rate

Since the launch of Swift satellite, the detections of high-z (z>4) long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) have been rapidly growing, even approaching the very early Universe (the record holder currently is z=8.3). The observed high-z LGRB rate shows significant excess over that estimated from the star formation history. We investigate what may be responsible for this high productivity of GRBs at high-z through Monte Carlo simulations, with effective Swif/BAT trigger and redshift detection probabilities based on current Swift/BAT sample and CGRO/BATSE LGRB sample. We compare our simulations to the Swift observations via log N-log P, peak luminosity (L) and redshift distributions. In the case that LGRB rate is purely proportional to the star formation rate (SFR), our simulations poorly reproduce the LGRB rate at z>4, although the simulated log N-log P distribution is in good agreement with the observed one. Assuming that the excess of high-z GRB rate is due to the cosmic metallicity evolution or unknown LGRB rate increase parameterized as (1+z)^delta, we find that although the two scenarios alone can improve the consistency between our simulations and observations, incorporation of them gives much better consistency. We get 0.2 4 (~15% of GRBs in current Swift LGRB sample based on our simulations), a window for very early Universe is opening by Swift and up-coming SVOM missions.

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arXiv2010

Late-time detections of the X-ray afterglow of GRB 060729 with Chandra - the latest detections ever of an X-ray afterglow

We report on 5 Chandra observations of the X-ray afterglow of the Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 060729 performed between 2007 March and 2008 May. In all five observations the afterglow is clearly detected. The last Chandra pointing was performed on 2008-May-04, 642 days after the burst - the latest detection of a GRB X-ray afterglow ever. A reanalysis of the Swift XRT light curve together with the three detections by Chandra in 2007 reveals a break at about 1.0 Ms after the burst with a slight steepening of the decay slope from alpha = 1.32 to 1.61. This break coincides with a significant hardening of the X-ray spectrum, consistent with a cooling break in the wind medium scenario, in which the cooling frequency of the afterglow crosses the X-ray band. The last two Chandra observations in 2007 December and 2008 May provide evidence for another break at about one year after the burst. If interpreted as a jet break, this late-time break implies a jet half opening angle of about 14 degrees for a wind medium. Alternatively, this final break may have a spectral origin, in which case no jet break has been observed and the half-opening angle of the jet of GRB 060729 must be larger than about 15 degrees for a wind medium. We compare the X-ray afterglow of GRB 060729 in a wind environment with other bright X-ray afterglows, in particular GRBs 061121 and 080319B, and discuss why the X-ray afterglow of GRB 060729 is such an exceptionally long-lasting event.

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arXiv2009

Constraining GRB Initial Lorentz Factor with the Afterglow Onset Feature and Discovery of a Tight Gamma_0-E_iso Correlation

The onset of GRB afterglow is characterized by a smooth bump in the early afterglow lightcurve. We make an extensive search for such a feature. Twenty optically selected GRBs and 12 X-ray selected GRBs are found, among which 17 optically selected GRBs and 2 X-ray-selected GRBs have redshift measurements. We fit the lightcurves with a smooth broken power-law and measure the temporal characteristic timescales of the bumps at FWHM. Strong mutual correlations among these timescales are found, and a dimmer and broader bump tends to peak at a later peak time. The ratio of rising to decaying timescales is almost universal among bursts, but the ratio of the rising time to the peak time varies from 0.3~1. The E_iso is tightly correlated with the peak luminosity and the peak time of the bump in the burst frame. Assuming that the bumps signal the deceleration of the GRB fireballs in a constant density medium, we calculate the initial Lorentz factor (Gamma_0) and the deceleration radius (R_dec) of the GRBs in the optical-selected sample. It is found that Gamma_0 are typically a few hundreds, and the typical deceleration radius is R_dec~10^{17} cm. More intriguingly, a tight correlation between the Gamma_0 and E_iso is found, namely Gamma_0 ~ 195 E_iso, 52}^{0.27} (satisfied for both the optical and X-ray z-known samples). It is helpful to understand GRB physics, and may serve as an indicator of Gamma_0. We find that the early bright X-rays are usually dominated by a different component from the external shock emission, but occasionally (for one case) an achromatic deceleration feature is observed. Components in X-rays would contribute to the diversity of the observed X-ray lightcurves (abridge).

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arXiv2009

A Comprehensive Analysis of Swift/XRT Data: IV. Single Power-Law Decaying Lightcurves vs. Canonical Lightcurves and Implications for a Unified Origin of X-rays

By analyzing the Swift/XRT lightcurves detected before 2009 July, we find 19 cases that monotonously decay as a single power law (SPL) with an index of 1 ~ 1.7 from tens (or hundreds) to ~ 10^5 seconds post the GRB trigger, apparently different from the canonical lightcurves characterized by a shallow-to-normal decay transition. No statistical difference is found in their prompt gamma-rays, and the X-ray properties of the two samples are also similar, although the SPL sample tend to have a slightly lower NH value of the host galaxies and larger energy release compared with the canonical sample. The SPL XRT lightcurves in the burst frame gradually merge into a conflux.The normal decay segment for the canonical sample has the same feature. Similar to the normal decay segment, the SPL lightcurves satisfy the closure relations of external shock models. If the X-rays are the afterglow of the GRB fireball, our results indicate that the shallow decay would be due to energy injection and the total energy budget after injection for both samples of GRBs is comparable. More intriguing, we find that a prior X-ray emission model proposed by Yamazaki is more straightforward to interpret the data. We show that the zero times (T0) of the X-rays atisfy a log-normal distribution, and the negligible T0's of the SPL sample are consistent with being the tail of T0 distributions at low end. Referenced to T0, the canonical XRT lightcurves well trace the SPL lightcurves. The T0's of the canonical lightcurves in our analysis are usually much larger than the offsets of the known precursors from the main GRBs, indicating the X-rays would be an emission component from external shocks prior to GRB trigger. The lack of detection of a jet-like break in most XRT lightcurves implies that the opening angle of its jet would be usually large.

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arXiv2009

Towards the Properties of Long Gamma-Ray Burst Progenitors with Swift Data

We investigate the properties of both the prompt and X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in the burst frame with a sample of 33 Swift GRBs. Assuming that the steep decay segment in the canonical X-ray afterglow lightcurves is due to the curvature effect, we fit the lightcurves with a broken power-law to derive the zero time of the last emission epoch of the prompt emission (t1) and the beginning as well as the end time of the shallow decay segment (t2 and t3).We show that both the isotropic peak gamma-ray luminosity and gamma-ray energy are correlated with the isotropic X-ray energy of the shallow decay phase and the isotropic X-ray luminosity at t2. We infer the properties of the progenitor stars based on a model proposed by Kumar et al. who suggested that both the prompt gamma-rays and the X-ray afterglows are due to the accretions of different layers of materials of the GRB progenitor star by a central black hole (BH). We find that most of the derived masses of the core layers are 0.1-5 solar mass with a radius of 10^8-10^10 cm. The rotation parameter is correlated with the burst duration, being consistent with the expectation of collapsar models. The estimated radii and the masses of the fall-back materials for the envelope layers are 10^10-10^12 cm and 10^-3~1 solar mass, respectively. The average accretion rates in the shallow decay phase are correlated with those in the prompt gamma-ray phase, but they are much lower. The derived radii of the envelope are smaller than the photospheric radii of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. It is interesting that the assembled mass density profile for the bursts in our sample is also well consistent with the simulation for a pre-supernova star with 25 solar mass.

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arXiv2009

Discerning the physical origins of cosmological Gamma-ray bursts based on multiple observational criteria: the cases of z=6.7 GRB 080913, z=8.3 GRB 090423, and some short/hard GRBs

(Abridged) The two high-redshift gamma-ray bursts, GRB 080913 at z=6.7 and GRB 090423 at z=8.3, recently detected by Swift appear as intrinsically short, hard GRBs. They could have been recognized by BATSE as short/hard GRBs should they have occurred at z <= 1. We perform a more thorough investigation on two physically distinct types (Type I/II) of cosmological GRBs and their observational characteristics. We reiterate the definitions of Type I/II GRBs and review the observational criteria and their physical motivations. Contrary to the traditional approach of assigning the physical category based on the gamma-ray properties (duration, hardness, and spectral lag), we take an alternative approach to define the Type I and Type II Gold Samples using several criteria that are more directly related to the GRB progenitors, and study the properties of the two Gold Samples and compare them with the traditional long/soft and short/hard samples. We find that the Type II Gold Sample reasonably tracks the long/soft population, although it includes several intrinsically short (shorter than 1s in the rest frame) GRBs. The Type I Gold Sample only has 5 GRBs, 4 of which are not strictly short but have extended emission. Other short/hard GRBs detected in the Swift era represent the BATSE short/hard sample well, but it is unclear whether all of them belong to Type I. We suggest that some (probably even most) high-luminosity short/hard GRBs instead belong to Type II. We suggest that GRB 080913 and GRB 090423 are more likely Type II events. We re-emphasize the importance of invoking multiple observational criteria, and cautiously propose an operational procedure to infer the physical origin of a given GRB with available multiple observational criteria, with various caveats laid out.

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arXiv2008

Curvature Effect of a Non-Power-Law Spectrum and Spectral Evolution of GRB X-Ray Tails

The apparent spectral evolution observed in the steep decay phase of many GRB early afterglows raises a great concern of the high-latitude "curvature effect" interpretation of this phase. However, previous curvature effect models only invoked a simple power law spectrum upon the cessation of the prompt internal emission. We investigate a model that invokes the "curvature effect" of a more general non-power-law spectrum and test this model with the Swift/XRT data of some GRBs. We show that one can reproduce both the observed lightcurve and the apparent spectral evolution of several GRBs using a model invoking a power-law spectrum with an exponential cut off. GRB 050814 is presented as an example.

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