arXiv subjects

Jia-Cong Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Jia-Cong Liu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Evidence of self-organized criticality in the prompt emission of a bright gamma-ray burst

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic explosive events in the Universe, yet the physical mechanism of their prompt emission remains a mystery. Especially, it is unclear whether the energy dissipation mechanism in the GRB jet is dominated by kinetic energy or magnetic energy. Here, we studied the pulses in the prompt emission of the second brightest GRB to date, GRB 230307A, which was accurately measured by the Gravitational wave high-energy electromagnetic counterpart all-sky monitor (GECAM), with focus on the cumulative distributions of peak counts and duration of pulses as well as the waiting time between pulses. We find that these cumulative distributions show scale-invariant behavior, well consistent with the prediction of the self-organized criticality (SOC) theory. This is the first robust evidence of an SOC feature in the prompt emission of a single GRB. Moreover, the statistical properties of pulses in the prompt emission of GRB 230307A are very similar to those of solar flares. Our findings suggest that the prompt emission of GRB is powered by the dissipation of magnetic energy in the ultra-relativistic jet, supporting the Poynting-flux-dominated prompt models.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

GRB 250706B/C: Insight-HXMT Discovery of a High-Luminosity Burst as a Candidate for Fallback-Regulated Accretion in the Prompt Emission

Fallback accretion in collapsar models is often associated with underluminous gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), leading to the widespread view that fallback-fed engines may be intrinsically inefficient at producing high-luminosity events. In this Letter, we present GRB 250706B/C, a luminous long GRB observed by \textit{Insight}-HXMT that exhibits an unusual combination of extreme short-timescale variability and coherent large-scale temporal evolution. The prompt emission contains at least 79 resolved pulses and a minimum variability timescale of $\sim11$ ms. The pulse widths are nearly independent of photon energy and span a broad distribution with a median FWHM of $\sim0.30$ s, while the waiting times between adjacent pulses have a median of $\sim0.38$ s. The prompt-emission envelope exhibits a prolonged rise described by $F(t)\propto (t-t_0)^{0.47\pm0.01}$ followed by a rapid decline. Despite substantial pulse-to-pulse fluctuations, neither the pulse widths nor the waiting times show significant secular evolution during the main emission episode. These features indicate the coexistence of two distinct temporal components, including a slow evolving rising luminosity envelope and rapid stochastic variability. Such behavior is consistent with scenarios in which a time-dependent engine-feeding history regulates the large-scale emission while internal dissipation within the relativistic outflow produces the pulse structure. Within this context, GRB~250706B/C may represent a fallback-fed collapsar operating on a high-luminosity branch, suggesting that fallback itself does not necessarily limit the luminosity scale of GRBs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Joint Observation of SGR J1935+2154 with \textit{Insight}-HXMT and KM40m during the active episode of October 2022

SGR J1935+2154 is the unique magnetar so far from which fast radio bursts have been detected. In October 2022, it resumed its burst activity, and we implemented a dedicated target-of-opportunity (ToO) observation on it from Oct. 13th to Nov. 1st, 2022 (about 940 ks in total) with \textit{Insight}-HXMT, while the KM40m radio telescope observed this source for about 1400 hours since Oct. 15th. We searched the LE, ME, and HE data of \textit{Insight}-HXMT in the overlapping observation time windows with the KM40m radio telescope and revealed 60 magnetar X-ray bursts (MXBs), while KM40m only detected 1 radio burst. In particular, we find that there is an X-ray burst on October 21 (denoted as MXB 221021) temporally associated with this radio burst. Interestingly, this association event shows very different morphology from those X-ray and radio association events from this source reported before (e.g., MXB/FRB 200428). Moreover, we systematically analyzed the temporal and spectral properties of the sample of MXBs during this observation and found that % the (radio-associated) MXB 221021 shows some different properties from other MXBs without associated radio bursts. These findings shed new light on the physical mechanisms of X-ray bursts and radio burst emission in magnetars.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

GECAM discovery of a peculiar magnetar X-ray burst (MXB 221120) from SGR J1935+2154 associated with a fast radio burst

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are enigmatic cosmic transients of millisecond duration observed in the radio band. The identification of FRB-associated magnetar X-ray bursts (MXBs) from galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 suggests that at least a fraction of FRBs can be produced from magnetar activity. However, the sample size of FRB-associated MXBs is still very small. Here we report a bright and peculiar FRB-associated MXB from SGR J1935+2154 detected by GECAM on November 20, 2022, dubbed MXB 221120. We find that both temporal and spectral properties of MXB 221120 exhibit distinctive features. Its light curve could be generally described by a single FRED function with superposition of several narrow pulses. Interestingly, we identify a possible QPO feature with center frequency of ~18 Hz in this MXB. The time-integrated spectrum is best fitted by a blackbody model with temperature (kT ) of 18.6 keV, rendering it the first thermal spectrum FRB-associated MXB from SGR J1935+2154. Compared to other MXBs with single emission episode, MXB 221120 has longer duration and higher blackbody temperature, making it an outlier in the burst sample. These results indicate that MXB 221120 may be produced by a special mechanism with extreme physical conditions.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Comprehensive Measurement of Spectral Evolution in a GRB Flare: High Time-Resolution Insights into the "Double-Tracking" Phenomenon

The spectral evolution characteristics of the prompt emission in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been extensively studied, but detailed investigations of spectral evolution in a GRB flare remain lacking. In this work, we present the first analysis of spectral parameter evolution in a GRB flare through high time-resolved spectral fitting of the Brightest Flare in GRB 221009A. We find that the $α$-Flux, $E_p$-Flux, and $E_p$-$α$ relationships during both the overall phase and the rise phase of flare can be well described by simple power-law model, showing positive correlations. Therefore, we conclude that Brightest Flare exhibits "Double-tracking" behavior. Since values of $α$ do not exceed the synchrotron "death line" (-2/3), we explain this phenomenon using a magnetic dissipation synchrotron radiation model. In the decay phase of flare, the $E_p$-Flux and $E_p$-$α$ correlations become notably flatter, with their power-law indices decreasing significantly compared to those in the rise phase. This may be due to the fact that the next flare begins to erupt before the Brightest Flare has completely ended, resulting in the combined effects of both two flares. Our study of spectral parameter relations of the Brightest Flare provides new insights into the radiation mechanisms of both GRB prompt emission and flares.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Performance of the Gamma-ray Transient Monitor at the IHEP Electron-Beam Facility

Gamma-Ray Transient Monitor (GTM) is an all-sky monitor onboard the Distant Retrograde Orbit-A (DRO-A) satellite, with the scientific objective of detecting gamma-ray bursts in the energy range of 20 keV to 1 MeV. GTM is equipped with five Gamma-Ray Transient Probes (GTPs), utilizing NaI(Tl) scintillators coupled with silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays for signal readout. To test the performance of the GTP in detecting electrons, we used the IHEP Electron-Beam Facility (a continuous-energy-tunable, low-current, quasi-single-electron accelerator) for ground-based electron tests of the GTP. This paper provides a detailed description of the operating principles of the electron accelerator and presents the process and results of the GTP electron-beam tests. The test results show that the GTP has a dead time of less than 4 $μ$s for normal signals and approximately 70 $μ$s for overflow signals, consistent with the design specifications. The time-recording capability of the GTP was tested and found to be normal, with accurate recording of overflow events. The GTP's response to electrons in the 0.4-1.4 MeV range is also normal. Additionally, we used Geant4 to simulate the GTP's energy response and performed a comparative analysis of the simulation and experimental results. The performance tests and ground-based electron calibration validated the design of the GTP and enhanced the GTP's mass model, laying the foundation for payload development, in-orbit observation strategies, and scientific data analysis.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

Eclipsed X-ray Bursts from Magnetar SGR J1935+2154 and the Fireball Measurements

In theory, burst activity of the magnetar can lead to the formation of fireballs trapped by the magnetic field and corotating with the star. However, the smoking-gun observational evidence of the fireball is elusive. We envisage that the fireball emission should occasionally be eclipsed by the magnetar, especially when the burst duration is comparable to the magnetar's spin period. In this work, we first discover a peculiar type of burst whose light curve has a plateau-like feature among the long bursts of the magnetar SGR J1935+2154 detected by GECAM and Fermi/GBM. Then, based on these bursts, we identified four burst candidates with eclipse-like characteristics. By fitting their light curves with the eclipse fireball model, the viewing angle of the magnetar relative to its spin axis is estimated to be $17^\circ \pm 10^\circ$, and the distances from the fireballs to the magnetar are found to be more than 5 times the magnetar's radius, indicating that the fireballs are suspended in the magnetosphere rather than adhering to the magnetar surface. Furthermore, we find that this configuration is well consistent with the implication of the cyclotron resonance scattering feature we found in their spectra. Our results suggest that some intermediate X-ray bursts may originate from magnetic reconnection within the magnetosphere rather than the starquake.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

GECAM discovery of the second FRB-associated Magnetar X-ray Burst from SGR J1935+2154

Fast radio burst (FRB) is mysterious phenomenon with millisecond-duration radio pulses observed mostly from cosmological distance. The association between FRB 200428 and a magnetar X-ray burst (MXB) from SGR J1935+2154 has significantly advanced the understanding of FRB and magnetar bursts. However, it is uncertain whether this association between MXB and FRB (i.e. MXB/FRB 200428) is genuine or just coincidental only based on this single event. Here we report the discovery of a bright ($\rm\sim7.6\times10^{-7}\,erg \cdot cm^{-2}$ in 1-250 keV) magnetar X-ray burst detected by GECAM on October 14th, 2022 (dubbed as MXB 221014) from SGR J1935+2154, which is associated with a FRB detected by CHIME and GBT. We conducted a detailed temporal and spectral analysis of MXB 221014 with GECAM data and find that it is a bright and typical ($T_{90}\sim$250 ms) X-ray burst from this magnetar. Interestingly, we find two narrow X-ray pulses in the MXB, one of which temporally aligns with the main pulse of the FRB 221014 $\sim5.70$ ms latter than the peak time of FRB 221014), resembling the feature found in MXB/FRB 200428. Furthermore, we did comprehensive comparison between MXB/FRB 221014 and MXB/FRB 200428, and find that while the two events share several common features, they also exhibit distinct differences, highlighting the variety of the MXB-FRB association morphology. This finding not only confirms the association between MXB and FRB but also provides new insights into the mechanism of and the relationship between FRB and MXB.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Systematic Study of the Simultaneous Events Detected by GECAM

GECAM is a constellation of all-sky monitors in hard X-ray and gamma-ray band primarily aimed at high energy transients such as gamma-ray bursts, soft gamma-ray repeaters, solar flares and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes. As GECAM has the highest temporal resolution (0.1~$μ$s) among instruments of its kind, it can identify the so-called simultaneous events (STE) that deposit signals in multiple detectors nearly at the same time (with a 0.3~$μ$s window). However, the properties and origin of STE have not yet been explored. In this work, we implemented, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the STE detected by GECAM, including their morphology, energy deposition, and the dependence on the geomagnetic coordinates. We find that these STE probably result from direct interactions between high-energy charged cosmic rays and satellite. These results demonstrate that GECAM can detect, identify, and characterize high-energy cosmic rays, making it a Micro Cosmic-Ray Observatory (MICRO) in low Earth orbit.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Brightest GRB flare observed in GRB 221009A: bridge the last gap between flare and prompt emission in GRB

Flares are usually observed during the afterglow phase of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) in soft X-ray, optical and radio bands, but rarely in gamma-ray band. Despite the extraordinary brightness, GECAM-C has accurately measured both the bright prompt emission and flare emission of GRB 221009A without instrumental effects, offering a good opportunity to study the relation between them. In this work, we present a comprehensive analysis of flare emission of GRB 221009A, which is composed of a series of flares. Among them, we identify an exceptionally bright flare with a record-breaking isotropic energy $E_{\rm iso} = 1.82 \times 10^{53}$ erg of GRB flares. It exhibits the highest peak energy ever detected in GRB flares, $E_{\rm peak} \sim 300$ keV, making it a genuine gamma-ray flare. It also shows rapid rise and decay timescales, significantly shorter than those of typical X-ray flares observed in soft X-ray or optical band, but comparable to those observed in prompt emissions. Despite these exceptional properties, the flare shares several common properties with typical GRB flares. We note that this is the first observation of a GRB flare in the keV-MeV band with sufficiently high temporal resolution and high statistics, which bridges the last gap between prompt emission and flare.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

On the Ultra-Long Gamma-Ray Transient GRB 250702B/EP250702

GRB 250702B/EP250702a is an interesting long-duration gamma-ray transient whose nature is in debate. To obtain a full picture in gamma-ray band, we implement a comprehensive targeted search of burst emission in a wide window of 30 days jointly with Insight-HXMT, GECAM and Fermi/GBM data within the ETJASMIN framework. In gamma-ray band, we find there is a 50-second precursor about 25 hours before the 4-hour main burst, which generally consists of 4 emission episodes. Remarkably, we find that the soft X-ray emission (after the main burst) decays as a power-law with start time aligning with the last episode of main emission and index of -5/3 perfectly consistent with the canonical prediction of fallback accretion. We conclude that the properties of precursor, main burst and the following soft X-ray emission strongly support the atypical collapsar Ultra-Long Gamma-Ray Burst (ULGRB) scenario rather than the Tidal Disruption Event (TDE), and all these gamma-ray and soft X-ray emission probably originate from relativistic jet whose luminosity is dominated by the fallback accretion rate during the death collapse of a supergiant star.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

LUNCH: A Lightweight Unified Deep-Learning Framework for General Transients Classification in High-Energy Time-Domain Astronomy

The increasing data volume of high-energy space monitors necessitates real-time, automated transient classification for multi-messenger follow-up. Conventional methods rely on empirical features like hardness ratios and reliable localization, which are not always precisely available during early detection. We developed the Lightweight Unified Neural Classifier for High-energy Transients (LUNCH) - an end-to-end deep-learning framework that performs general transient classification directly from raw multi-band light curves, eliminating the need for background subtraction or source localization. Its dual-scale architecture fuses long- and short-scale temporal evolution adaptively. Evaluated on 15 years of Fermi/GBM triggers, the optimal model achieves 97.23% accuracy when trained on complete energy spectra. A lightweight version using only three broad energy bands retains 95.07% accuracy, demonstrating that coarse spectral information fused with temporal context enables robust discrimination. The system significantly outperforms the GBM in-flight classifier on three months of independent test data. Feature visualization reveals well-separated class clusters, confirming physical interpretability. LUNCH combines high accuracy, low computational cost, and instrument-agnostic inputs, offering a practical solution for real-time in-flight processing that enables timely triggers for immediate multi-wavelength and multi-messenger follow-up observations in future time-domain missions.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Revisit the periodicity of SGR J1935+2154 bursts with updated sample

Since FRB 200428 has been found to be associated with an X-ray burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154, it is interesting to explore whether the magnetar bursts also follow the similar active periodic behavior as some repeating FRBs. Previous studies show that there is possible period about 230 day in SGR J1935+2154 bursts. Here, we collected an updated burst sample from SGR J1935+2154, including all bursts reported by Fermi/GBM and GECAM till 2022 January. We also developed a targeted search pipeline to reveal more bursts from SGR J1935+2154 in the Fermi/GBM data from 2008 August to 2014 December (i.e. before the first burst detected by Swift/BAT). With this burst sample, we re-analyzed the possible periodicity of SGR J1935+2154 bursts using the Period Folding and Lomb-Scargle Periodogram methods. Our results show that the periodicity $\sim$238 day reported in literature is probably fake and the observation effects may introduce false periods (i.e. 55 day) according to simulation tests. We find that, for the current burst sample, the most probable period is 126.88$\pm$2.05 day, which could be interpreted as the precession of the magnetar. However, we note that the whole burst history is very complicated and difficult to be perfectly accommodated with any period reported thus far, therefore more monitoring observations of SGR J1935+2154 are required to test any periodicity hypothesis.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

GECAM Observations of the Galactic Magnetar SGR J1935+2154 during the 2021 and 2022 Burst Active Episodes. I. Burst Catalog

Magnetar is a neutron star with an ultrahigh magnetic field ($\sim 10^{14}-10^{15}$ G). The magnetar SGR J1935+2154 is not only one of the most active magnetars detected so far, but also the unique confirmed source of fast radio bursts (FRBs). Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) is dedicated to monitor gamma-ray transients all over the sky, including magnetar short bursts. Here we report the GECAM observations of the burst activity of SGR J1935+2154 from January 2021 to December 2022, which results in a unique and valuable data set for this important magnetar. With a targeted search of GECAM data, 159 bursts from SGR J1935+2154 are detected by GECAM-B while 97 bursts by GECAM-C, including the X-ray burst associated with a bright radio burst. We find that both the burst duration and the waiting time between two successive bursts follow lognormal distributions. The period of burst activity is $134\pm20$ days, thus the burst activity could be generally divided into four active episodes over these two years. Interestingly, the hardness ratio of X-ray bursts tends to be softer during these two years, especially during the active episode with radio bursts detected.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Advancing Identification method of Gamma-Ray Bursts with Data and Feature Enhancement

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are challenging to identify due to their transient nature, complex temporal profiles, and limited observational datasets. We address this with a one-dimensional convolutional neural network integrated with an Adaptive Frequency Feature Enhancement module and physics-informed data augmentation. Our framework generates 100,000 synthetic GRB samples, expanding training data diversity and volume while preserving physical fidelity-especially for low-significance events. The model achieves 97.46% classification accuracy, outperforming all tested variants with conventional enhancement modules, highlighting enhanced domain-specific feature capture. Feature visualization shows model focuses on deep-seated morphological features and confirms the capability of extracting physically meaningful burst characteristics. Dimensionality reduction and clustering reveal GRBs with similar morphologies or progenitor origins cluster in the feature space, linking learned features to physical properties. This perhaps offers a novel diagnostic tool for identifying kilonova- and supernova-associated GRB candidates, establishing criteria to enhance multi-messenger early-warning systems. The framework aids current time-domain surveys, generalizes to other rare transients, and advances automated detection in large-volume observational data.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

BREAKFAST: A Framework for general joint BA duty and follow-up guidance of multiple $γ$-ray monitors

With the growing number of gamma-ray monitors in operation, several research teams have adopted a strategy of joint operation and scientific duty to improve efficiency. A successful example is the GECAM-HXMT-SVOM (GHS) constellation collaboration, which sets a precedent for other gamma-ray monitor constellations. However, joint duty also presents challenges to Burst Advocates (BAs), including the increased number of triggers and, more importantly, the frequent switching between various systems due to incompatibilities among different missions, which complicates the situation. To address the current requirements of multi-wavelength and multi-messenger astronomy, we developed a customized framework for unified trigger processing within the GHS joint duty, named "BA's Rapid Evaluation and Analysis Kit for Formulating Alerts and Summary Tools" (BREAKFAST). This framework incorporates a series of automated, semi-automated, and manual pipelines designed to rapidly process triggers of prompt emissions in the gamma-ray band from different instruments, while maintaining flexible compatibility for future missions. The pursuit of BREAKFAST goes beyond merely providing trigger processing for BAs. BREAKFAST also aims to filtering high-value targets and guiding follow-up telescopes through rapid analysis and reporting, thus serving as an important bridge between prompt emission observations and afterglow observations. To this end, a suite of comprehensive analysis modules is included in BREAKFAST, particularly the specially designed module that predicts X-ray afterglow brightness based on prompt emission properties. The framework's effectiveness has already been demonstrated in recent observational campaigns, and it is expected to play a significant role in the discovery and observation of peculiar transients in the future.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Extending the short gamma-ray burst population from sub-threshold triggers in Fermi/GBM and GECAM data and its implications

Detection of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) is critically important for the research of compact object mergers and multi-messenger astrophysics, but a significant part of SGRBs fall below the trigger threshold of GRB detectors, and thus are often missed. Here we present a systematic search for and verification of missed SGRBs using Fermi/GBM subthreshold triggers, jointly analyzing data from GBM, GECAM-B, and GECAM-C. Among 466 Fermi/GBM sub-threshold events (with reliability >= 5) from 2021 to 2024, 181 are within GECAM's field of view. We find that 49 out of 181 are confirmed astrophysical transients, and 41 can be classified as SGRBs. Thus, the SGRB detection rate of Fermi/GBM is increased to about 50 per year. Additionally, a complete multi-instrument monitoring and systematic verification of GBM sub-threshold events is expected to further increase the SGRB rate to about 80 per year, which is about 100% improvement relative to the GBM-triggered SGRBs. These results may have important implications on the local formation rate of SGRBs and the binary neutron star merger rate. We also searched for potential temporal coincidences between these SGRBs and gravitational waves from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA O4 run resulting in no detection.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Search for Type IL Gamma-ray Bursts: Criterion, Results, Verification and Physical Implication

As an interesting subclass of gamma-ray burst (GRB), Type IL GRB (such as GRB 211211A and GRB 230307A) features a long-duration prompt emission but originating from compact binary merger. The "long duration" emisison of Type IL GRB are dominately composed of the main burst, rather than the extended emission,differentiating them from the traditional "long-short" GRB (e.g., GRB 060614). Previous study has reported several Type IL GRBs by visual inspection of their light curves. In this work, we established a detailed criterion to identify Type IL GRBs by light curve, and then systematically searched the archival Fermi/GBM data with this criterion, resulting in a sample of 5 type IL GRBs from January 1, 2014 to January 1, 2024, i.e. GRB 230307A, GRB 211211A, GRB 200914A, GRB 200311A and GRB 170228A. Apart from the light curve pattern, we find that the temporal and spectral properties of these 5 GRBs also support this classification. Interestingly, we find that the energy ratio between extended emission and main emission is almost constant (~0.7, with small scattering) for these GRBs, which have strong implication on the mechanism of Type IL burst. We discuss theoretical models to interpret the progenitor, central engine, and extended emission of these Type IL bursts.

astro-ph.HE↗