arXiv subjects

Jia-Xin Cao

Publications and source records attributed to Jia-Xin Cao.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Minutes-long soft X-ray prompt emission from a compact object merger

Compact object mergers are multi-messenger sources and known progenitors of some gamma-ray bursts, bright flashes of high-energy radiation powered by a central engine, either an accreting black hole or a neutron star. Our understanding of these events has so far been shaped primarily by observations in the gamma-ray band, leaving their prompt phase poorly constrained at lower energies. A long-lasting ($\approx$100 s) engine-driven X-ray emission was discussed to explain rapidly fading X-ray afterglows following several ($\approx$30%) bursts of short ($\lesssim$2 s) duration. However, this prompt X-ray component was not directly observed and past candidates were not confirmed. Here we report the discovery of EP250704a containing a minutes-long ($\sim$560 s) flash of soft (0.5--4 keV) X-rays immediately following the short ($\sim$0.4 s) GRB 250704B. The variability and spectral shape of this emission are inconsistent with the canonical picture of a hard, accretion-powered spike followed by a standard external-shock afterglow. Instead, the long-soft bump points to a distinct phase of prompt emission in X-rays, which would not have been detected without the soft X-ray coverage of Einstein Probe. The detection of a prompt soft X-ray counterpart in an otherwise ordinary short GRB shows that long-lasting X-ray emission is likely a common feature of merger-driven bursts and a promising electromagnetic counterpart to gravitational wave sources.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

GRB 240825A: Early Reverse Shock and Its Physical Implications

Early multiwavelength observations offer crucial insights into the nature of the relativistic jets responsible for gamma-ray bursts and their interaction with the surrounding medium.We present data of GRB 240825A from 17 space- and ground-based telescopes/instruments, covering wavelengths from NIR/optical to X-ray and GeV, and spanning from the prompt emission to the afterglow phase triggered by Swift and Fermi. The early afterglow observations were carried out by SVOM/C-GFT, and spectroscopic observations of the afterglow by GTC, VLT, and TNG determined the redshift of the burst ($z = 0.659$) later.A comprehensive analysis of the prompt emission spectrum observed by Swift-BAT and Fermi-GBM/LAT reveals a rare and significant high-energy cutoff at ~76 MeV. Assuming this cutoff is due to $γγ$ absorption allows us to place an upper limit on the initial Lorentz factor, $Γ_0 < 245$. The optical/NIR and GeV afterglow light curves be described by the standard external shock model, with early-time emission dominated by a reverse shock (RS) and a subsequent transition to forward shock (FS) emission. Our afterglow modelling yields a consistent estimate of the initial Lorentz factor ($Γ_{\rm 0} \sim 234$). Furthermore, the RS-to-FS magnetic field ratio ($\mathcal{R}_B \sim 302$) indicates that the reverse shock region is significantly more magnetized than the FS region. An isotropic-equivalent kinetic energy of $E_{\text{k,iso}} = 5.25 \times 10^{54}$ erg is derived, and the corresponding $γ$-ray radiation efficiency is estimated to be $η_γ$ = 3.1%. On the other hand, the standard afterglow model can not reproduce the X-ray light curve of GRB 240825A, calling for improved models to characterize all multiwavelength data.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

A Comprehensive Analysis of Insight-HXMT Gamma-Ray Burst Data. I. Power Density Spectrum

Power Density Spectrum (PDS) is one of the powerful tools to study light curves of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We show the average PDS and individual PDS analysis with {\it Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope} (also named \insighthxmt) GRBs data. The values of power-law index of average PDS ($α_{\bar{P}}$) for long GRBs (LGRBs) vary from 1.58-1.29 (for 100-245, 245-600, and 600-2000 keV). The \insighthxmt\ data allow us to extend the energy of the LGRBs up to 2000 keV, and a relation between $α_{\bar{P}}$ and energy $E$, $α_{\bar{P}}\propto E^{-0.09}$ (8-2000 keV) is obtained. We first systematically investigate the average PDS and individual PDS for short GRBs (SGRBs), and obtain $α_{\bar{P}}\propto E^{-0.07}$ (8-1000 keV), where the values of $α_{\bar{P}}$ vary from 1.86 to 1.34. The distribution of power-law index of individual PDS ($α$) of SGRB, is consistent with that of LGRB, and the $α$ value for the dominant timescale group (the bent power-law, BPL) is higher than that for the no-dominant timescale group (the single power-law, PL). Both LGRBs and SGRBs show similar $α$ and $α_{\bar{P}}$, which indicates that they may be the result of similar stochastic processes. The typical value of dominant timescale $τ$ for LGRBs and SGRBs is 1.58 s and 0.02 s, respectively. It seems that the $τ$ in proportion to the duration of GRBs $T_{90}$, with a relation $τ\propto T_{90}^{0.86}$. The GRB light curve may result from superposing a number of pulses with different timescales. No periodic and quasi-periodical signal above the 3$σ$ significance threshold is found in our sample.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Multiwavelength Polarization Observations of Mrk 501

Mrk 501 is a prototypical high-synchrotron-peaked blazar (HBL) and serves as one of the primary targets for the {\it Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer} ({\it IXPE}). In this study, we report X-ray polarization measurements of Mrk 501 based on six {\it IXPE} observations. The detection of X-ray polarization at a confidence level exceeding 99\% is achieved in four out of the six observations conducted across the entire energy range (2--8 keV) of {\it IXPE}. The maximum polarization degree ($Π_{\rm X}$) is measured to be $15.8\%\pm2.8\%$, accompanied by a polarization angle ($ψ_{\rm X}$) of $98.0°\pm5.1°$ at a confidence level of $5.6 σ$. During the remaining two observations, only an upper limit of $Π_{\rm X}<$12\% could be derived at the 99\% confidence level. No temporal variability in polarization is observed throughout all six {\it IXPE} observations for Mrk 501. A discernible trend of energy-dependent variation in the polarization degree is detected in optical spectropolarimetry; however, no analogous indication is observed in $Π_{\rm X}$. The chromatic behavior of $Π$ and the consistent values of $ψ$ across different frequencies from X-rays to radio waves, along with the agreement between $ψ$ and jet position angle, strongly support the interpretation of the energy-stratified model with shock-accelerated particles in the jet of Mrk 501. Additionally, the possibility of the presence of a global helical magnetic field in the jet of Mrk 501 is discussed.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

GRB 221009A/SN 2022xiw: A Supernova Obscured by a Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow?

We present optical photometry for the afterglow of GRB 221009A, in some respects the most extraordinary gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever observed. Good quality in the R-band light curve is obtained, covering 0.32-19.57 days since the Fermi-GBM trigger. We find that a weak bump emerges fromthe declining afterglow at $t \approx 11$ days; a supernova (SN) may be responsible. We use a smooth broken power-law and $^{56}\mathrm{Ni}$ model to fit the light curve. The best-fitting results reveal that the SN ejected a total mass of $M_\mathrm{ej} = 3.70 M_\odot$, a $^{56}\mathrm{Ni}$ mass of $M_\mathrm{Ni} = 0.23 M_\odot$, and a kinetic energy of $E_\mathrm{SN,K} = 2.35 \times 10^{52} \mathrm{erg}$. We also compare GRB 221009A with other GRB-SN events based on a GRB-associated SN sample, and find that only SN 2003lw and SN 2011kl can be obviously revealed in the afterglow of GRB 221009A by setting these objects at its distance. This suggests that a supernova (SN 2022xiw) is possibly obscured by the brighter afterglow emission from GRB 221009A.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

A huge-amplitude white-light superflare on a L0 brown dwarf discovered by GWAC survey

White-light superflares from ultra cool stars are thought to be resulted from magnetic reconnection, but the magnetic dynamics in a fully convective star is not clear yet. In this paper, we report a stellar superflare detected with the Ground Wide Angle Camera (GWAC), along with rapid follow-ups with the F60A, Xinglong 2.16m and LCOGT telescopes. The effective temperature of the counterpart is estimated to be $2200\pm50$K by the BT-Settl model, corresponding to a spectral type of L0. The $R-$band light curve can be modeled as a sum of three exponential decay components, where the impulsive component contributes a fraction of 23\% of the total energy, while the gradual and the shallower decay phases emit 42\% and 35\% of the total energy, respectively. The strong and variable Balmer narrow emission lines indicate the large amplitude flare is resulted from magnetic activity. The bolometric energy released is about $6.4\times10^{33}$ ergs, equivalent to an energy release in a duration of 143.7 hours at its quiescent level. The amplitude of $ΔR=-8.6 $mag ( or $ΔV=-11.2$ mag), placing it one of the highest amplitudes of any ultra cool star recorded with excellent temporal resolution. We argue that a stellar flare with such rapidly decaying and huge amplitude at distances greater than 1 kpc may be false positive in searching for counterparts of catastrophic events such as gravitational wave events or gamma-ray bursts, which are valuable in time-domain astronomy and should be given more attention.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2022

GRB 211227A as a peculiar long gamma-ray burst from compact star merger

Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) associated with supernovae (SNe) are believed to originate from massive star core-collapse events, whereas short-duration GRBs that are related to compact star mergers are expected to be accompanied by kilonovae. GRB 211227A, which lasted about 84 s, had an initial short/hard spike followed by a series of soft gamma-ray extended emission at redshift $z=$0.228. We performed follow-up observations of the optical emission using BOOTES, LCOGT, and the Lijiang 2.4m telescope, but we detected no associated supernova signature, even down to very stringent limits at such a low redshift. We observed the host galaxy within a large error-circle and roughly estimate the physical offset of GRB 211227A as $20.47\pm14.47$ kpc from the galaxy center. These properties are similar to those of GRB 060614, and suggest that the progenitor of GRB 211227A is not favored to be associated with the death of massive stars. Hence, we propose that GRB 211227A originates from a compact star merger. Calculating pseudo-kilonova emission for this case by adopting the typical parameters, we find that any associated pseudo-kilonova is too faint to be detected. If this is the case, it explains naturally the characteristics of the prompt emission, the lack of SN and kilonova emission, and the large physical offset from the galaxy center.

astro-ph.HE↗