arXiv subjects

Jirong Mao

Publications and source records attributed to Jirong Mao.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Non-detection of the Gamma-ray Burst X-ray Emission Line: The Down-Comptonization Effect

The detection of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) X-ray emission line is important for studying the GRB physics and constraining the GRB redshift. Since the line-like feature in the GRB X-ray spectrum was first reported in 1999, several works on line searching have been published over the past two decades. Even though some observations on the X-ray line-like feature were performed, the significance remains controversial to date. In this paper, we utilize the down-Comptonization mechanism and present the time evolution of the Fe K$α$ line emitted near the GRB central engine. The line intensity decreases with the evolution time, and the time evolution depends on the the electron density and the electron temperature. In addition, the initial line with a larger broadening decreases less over time. For instance, when the emission line penetrates material with the an electron density above $10^{12}$ cm$^{-3}$ at 1 keV, it generally becomes insignificant enough after 100 s for it not to be detected. The line-like profile deviates from the Gaussian form, and it finally changes to be similar to a blackbody shape at the time of the thermal equilibrium between the line photons and the surrounding material.

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arXiv2020

Spectral Diversities of Gamma-ray Bursts in High Energy Bands: Hints from Turbulent Cascade

We statistically examine the gamma-ray burst (GRB) photon indices obtained by the Fermi-GBM and Fermi-LAT observations and compare the LAT GRB photon indices to the GBM GRB photon indices. We apply the jitter radiation to explain the GRB spectral diversities in the high-energy bands. In our model, the jitter radiative spectral index is determined by the spectral index of the turbulence. We classify GRBs into three classes depending on the shape of the GRB high-energy spectrum when we compare the GBM and LAT detections: the GRB spectrum is concave (GRBs turn out to be softer and are labeled as S-GRBs), the GRB spectrum is convex (GRBs turn out to be harder and are labeled as H-GRBs), and the GRBs have no strong spectral changes (labeled as N-GRBs). A universal Kolmogorov index 7/3 in the turbulent cascade is consistent with the photon index of the N-GRBs. The S-GRB spectra can be explained by the turbulent cascade due to the kinetic magnetic reconnection with the spectral index range of the turbulence from 8/3 to 3.0. The H-GRB spectra originate from the inverse turbulent cascade with the spectral index range of the turbulence from 2.0 to 3.5 that occurred during the large lengthscale magnetic reconnection. Thus, the GRB radiative spectra are diversified because the turbulent cascade modifies the turbulent energy spectrum. More observational samples are expected in the future to further identify our suggestions.

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arXiv2020

Multicolor Optical Monitoring of the Blazar S5 0716+714 from 2017 to 2019

We continuously monitored the blazar S5 0716+714 in the optical $g$, $r$ and $i$ bands from Nov. 10, 2017 to Jun. 06, 2019. The total number of observations is 201 nights including 26973 data points. This is a very large quasi-simultaneous multicolor sample for the blazar. The average time spans and time resolutions are 3.4 hours and 2.9 minutes per night, respectively. During the period of observations, the target source in the $r$ band brightens from $14^{\rm m}.16$ to $12^{\rm m}.29$ together with five prominent sub-flares, and then first becomes fainter to $14^{\rm m}.76$ and again brightens to $12^{\rm m}.94$ with seven prominent sub-flares. For the long-term variations, we find a strong flatter when brighter (FWB) trend at a low flux state and then a weak FWB trend at a higher flux state. A weak FWB trend at a low flux state and then a strong FWB trend at a higher flux state are also reported. Most of sub-flares show the strong FWB trends, except for two flares with a weak FWB trend. The particle acceleration and cooling mechanisms together with the superposition of different FWB-slopes from sub-flares are likely to explain the optical color behaviours. A scenario of bent jet is discussed.

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arXiv2019

GRB X-Ray Flare Properties among Different GRB Subclasses

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can be divided into three subclasses: X-ray flash (XRF), X-ray rich (XRR), and classical GRB (C-GRB). An X-ray flare is the rebrightening emission shown in the early X-ray afterglow of some GRBs. In this paper, we comprehensively examine the X-ray flare properties among XRF, XRR, and C-GRB subclasses. We utilize the XRF, XRR, and C-GRB subclass samples obtained from the Swift-BAT3 catalog, and the X-ray flare observational properties are collected from Falcone et al., Chincarini et al., and Yi et al. We find that XRFs and XRRs have more bright X-ray flares than C-GRBs. The ratio of the X-ray flare fluence to the prompt emission fluence has different distributions between XRF and C-GRB subclasses. The linear correlation between the duration and the peak time of the X-ray flares is also different between XRF and C-GRB subclasses. We are inclined to identify the GRBs with the bright X-ray flares as XRFs or XRRs. We discuss some issues that are related to the XRF/XRR/C-GRB classification. We also caution the selection effects and the instrument bias in our investigation. Large samples are required in the future to further confirm our results.

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arXiv2019

Star-formation rates of two GRB host galaxies at z~2 and a [CII] deficit observed with ALMA

Event rate of long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) is expected to be an useful tracer of the cosmic star-formation history. For this purpose, it is necessary to understand what kind of star formations/galaxies are traced by GRBs. Here we report rest-frame far-infrared (FIR) continuum detections of GRB 070521 and 080207 host galaxies at $z\sim2$ with ALMA band 8 and 9. The FIR photometries provide the reliable star-formation rates (SFRs), because FIR emission is free from dust extinction and possible radio contamination from long-lived afterglows of GRBs. The spectral energy distribution fittings indicate 49.85$^{+72.33}_{-2.86}$ and 123.4$^{+25.19}_{-21.78}$ $M_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ for the 070521 and 080207 hosts, respectively. The derived SFRs place them on the \lq \lq main sequence\rq \rq\ of normal star-forming galaxies at $z\sim2$. The derived SFRs are significantly lower than that of radio observations. It is inferred that the observed radio fluxes in a previous study are contaminated by the afterglows. ALMA marginally detected [C~{\sc ii}]\,158\,$μ$m emission line from the GRB 080207 host galaxy with S/N $\sim$ 4. This is the first detection of [C~{\sc ii}]\,158\,$μ$m of a GRB host at $z>2$, and the second detection among known GRBs. The luminosity ratio of [C~{\sc~ii}]\,158$μ$m to FIR is 7.5$\times 10^{-4}$, which is one of the smallest values among galaxies at $z\sim 1-2$ with the same FIR luminosity. The \lq \lq [C~{\sc ii}] deficit\rq \rq\ could be a new physical property to characterise GRB hosts at $z\sim1-2$. Possible parameters controlling the deficit include the metallicity, initial mass function, and gas density.

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arXiv2019

Is Bremsstrahlung A Possible Mechanism to Explain the Thermal Feature in the GRB 130925A X-ray Afterglow?

It has been reported that some X-ray spectra of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows cannot be fitted by a simple power law. A blackbody component is added to precisely fit the thermal feature in these spectra. Alternatively, we propose that bremsstrahlung radiation can also be one possible mechanism to explain the thermal component of the GRB X-ray afterglow. In particular, we examine the X-ray afterglow of the ultra-long GRB 130925A in this paper. By our calculation, we find that the X-ray thermal component observed by both Swift-XRT and NuSTAR can be well explained by the bremsstrahlung radiation. Our results indicate that the GRBs with the bremsstrahlung emission in the X-ray afterglow could be born in a metal-rich and dusty environment.

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arXiv2019

Lijiang 2.4-meter Telescope and its Instruments

Lijiang 2.4-meter Telescope(LJT), the largest common-purpose optical telescope in China, has been applied to the world-wide astronomers since 2008. It is located at Gaomeigu site, Lijiang Observatory(LJO), the southwest of China. The site has very good observational conditions. Since 10-year operation, several instruments have been equipped on the LJT. Astronomers can perform both photometric and spectral observations. The main scientific goals of LJT include photometric and spectral evolution of supernova, reverberation mapping of active galactic nucleus, physical properties of binary star and near-earth object(comet and asteroid), identification of exoplanet, and all kinds of transients. Until now, the masses of 41 high accretion rate black holes have been measured, and more than 168 supernova have been identified by the LJT. More than 190 papers related to the LJT have been published. In this paper, the general observation condition of the Gaomeigu site is introduced at first. Then, the LJT structure is described in detail, including the optical, mechanical, motion and control system. The specification of all the instruments, and some detailed parameters of the YFOSC is also presented. Finally, some important scientific results and future expectations are summarized.

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arXiv2018

A mixture evolution scenario of the AGN radio luminosity function. II. Do low- and high-power radio-loud AGNs evolve differently?

Following previous work, we further confirm that the cosmic evolution of steep-spectrum radio-loud AGNs (active galactic nuclei) can be reproduced by a simple combination of density evolution (DE) and luminosity evolution (LE). This mixture evolution scenario can naturally explain the luminosity-dependent evolution of radio-loud AGNs. Our models successfully fitted a large amount of data on radio luminosity functions (RLFs) of steep-spectrum sources and multi-frequency source counts. The modeling indicates that the DE slowly increase as $(1+z)^{0.3 \thicksim 1.3}$ out to $z \thicksim 0.8$, and then rapidly decreases as $(1+z)^{-6.8 \thicksim -5.7}$, while the LE rapidly increase as $(1+z)^{4.8}$ out to a higher redshift (at least $z>3.5$). We find a high-redshift decline (i.e. redshift cutoff) in the number density of steep-spectrum radio sources, but we cannot conclude whether such decline is sharp or shallow. We believe that whether a redshift cutoff occurs or not depends mainly on DE, while its steepness is decided by LE, which, however, cannot be well constrained due to the lack of high-redshift samples. Most intriguingly, according to our mixture evolution scenario, there appears to be no need for different evolution for the low- and high-power radio-loud AGNs. Both types of sources experience the same combined evolution of DE and LE.

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arXiv2018

Determining the core radio luminosity function of radio AGNs via copula

The radio luminosity functions (RLFs) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are traditionally measured based on total emission, which doesn't reflect the current activity of the central black hole. The increasing interest in compact radio cores of AGNs requires determination of the RLF based on core emission (i.e., core RLF). In this work we have established a large sample (totaling 1207) of radio-loud AGNs, mainly consisting of radio galaxies (RGs) and steep-spectrum radio quasars (SSRQs). Based on the sample, we explore the relationship between core luminosity ($L_c$) and total luminosity ($L_t$) via a powerful statistical tool called "Copula". The conditional probability distribution $p(\log L_{c} \mid \log L_{t})$ is obtained. We derive the core RLF as a convolution of $p(\log L_{c} \mid \log L_{t})$ with the total RLF which was determined by previous work. We relate the separate RG and SSRQ core RLFs via a relativistic beaming model and find that SSRQs have an average Lorentz factor of $γ=9.84_{-2.50}^{+3.61}$, and that most are seen within $8^{\circ} \lesssim θ\lesssim 45^{\circ}$ of the jet axis. Compared with the total RLF which is mainly contributed by extended emission, the core RLF shows a very weak luminosity-dependent evolution, with the number density peaking around $z\thicksim 0.8$ for all luminosities. Differences between core and total RLFs can be explained in a framework involving a combination of density and luminosity evolutions where the cores have significantly weaker luminosity evolution than the extended emission.

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arXiv2018

Statistical Study of the Swift X-ray Flash and X-ray Rich Gamma-Ray Bursts

We build a comprehensive sample to statistically describe the properties of X-ray flashes (XRFs) and X-ray riches (XRRs) from the latest third Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT3) catalog of Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We obtain 81 XRFs, 540 XRRs, and 394 classical GRBs (C-GRBs). We statistically explore the different properties of the $γ$-ray prompt emission, the X-ray emission, the X-ray lightcurve type, the association with supernovae (SNe), and the host galaxy properties for these sources. We confirm that most XRFs/XRRs are long GRBs with low values of peak energy $E^{obs}_{peak}$ and they are low-luminosity GRBs. XRFs, XRRs, and C-GRBs follow the same $E_{X,iso}$-$E_{γ,iso}$-$E_{peak,z}$ correlations. Compared to the classical GRBs, XRFs are favorable to have the association with SN explosions. We do not find any significant differences of redshift distribution and host galaxy properties among XRFs, XRRs, and C-GRBs. We also discuss some observational biases and selection effects that may affect on our statistical results. The GRB detectors with wide energy range and low energy threshold are expected for the XRF/XRR research in the future.

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arXiv2018

Why Are Some Gamma-Ray Bursts Hosted by Oxygen-rich Galaxies?

Theoretically long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are expected to happen in low-metallicity environments, because in a single massive star scenario, low iron abundance prevents loss of angular momentum through stellar wind, resulting in ultra-relativistic jets and the burst. In this sense, not just a simple metallicity measurement but also low iron abundance ([Fe/H]<-1.0) is essentially important. Observationally, however, oxygen abundance has been measured more often due to stronger emission. In terms of oxygen abundance, some GRBs have been reported to be hosted by high-metallicity star-forming galaxies, in tension with theoretical predictions. Here we compare iron and oxygen abundances for the first time for GRB host galaxies (GRB 980425 and 080517) based on the emission-line diagnostics. The estimated total iron abundances, including iron in both gas and dust, are well below the solar value. The total iron abundances can be explained by the typical value of theoretical predictions ([Fe/H]<-1.0), despite high oxygen abundance in one of them. According to our iron abundance measurements, the single massive star scenario still survives even if the oxygen abundance of the host is very high, such as the solar value. Relying only on oxygen abundance could mislead us on the origin of the GRBs. The measured oxygen-to-iron ratios, [O/Fe], can be comparable to the highest values among the iron-measured galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Possible theoretical explanations of such high [O/Fe] include the young age of the hosts, top-heavy initial mass function, and fallback mechanism of the iron element in supernova explosions.

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arXiv2018

Optical Observations of the Young Type Ic Supernova SN 2014L in M99

We present optical spectroscopic and photometric observations of the nearby type Ic supernova (SN Ic) SN 2014L. This SN was discovered by the Tsinghua-NAOC Transient Survey (TNTS) in the nearby type-Sc spiral galaxy M99 (NGC 4254). Fitting to the early-time light curve indicates that SN 2014L was detected at only a few hours after the shock breakout, and it reached a peak brightness of $M_{\rm V} = -17.73 \pm 0.28$ mag ($L= [2.06\pm 0.50] \times 10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$) approximately 13 days later. SN 2014L shows a close resemblance to SN 2007gr in the photometric evolution, while it shows stronger absorption features of intermediate-mass elements (especially \CaII) in the early-time spectra. Based on simple modeling of the observed light curves, we derived the mass of synthesized $^{56}$Ni as $M_{\rm Ni} = 0.075 \pm 0.025 M_{\odot}$, and the mass and total energy of the ejecta as $M_{\rm ej} = 1.00 \pm 0.20 M_\odot$ and $E_{\rm ej}=1.45\pm0.25$ foe, respectively. Given these typical explosion parameters, the early detection, and the extensive observations, we suggest that SN 2014L could be a template sample for the investigation of SNe Ic.

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arXiv2018

Synchrotron Polarization Radiative Transfer: Relativistic Thermal Electrons Contribution

Relativistic thermal electrons moving in a large-scale magnetic field can produce synchrotron radiation. Linear synchrotron polarization can also be produced by the relativistic thermal electrons. In this paper, we utilize a hybrid thermal-nonthermal electron energy distribution to calculate circular synchrotron polarization. We further compute the radiative transfer of the synchrotron polarization in the optical and radio bands when we consider the contribution of the thermal electrons. We attempt to apply the polarization results to some astrophysical objects, such as kilonova like AT 2017gfo/GW170817, the fast radio burst (FRB), the Gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow, and the supernova remnant (SNR). The large optical depth of radiative transfer effects the small polarization degrees of these populations when the media surrounding the synchrotron sources take heavy absorption to the polarized photons. We need a strong magnetic field in our model to reproduce the linear and circular polarization properties that were observed in FRB 140514. This indicates that FRBs have a neutron star origin.

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arXiv2018

A lower occurrence rate of bright X-ray flares in SN-GRBs than $z<1$ GRBs: evidence of energy partitions?

The occurrence rates of bright X-ray flares in z<1 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with or without observed supernovae (SNe) association were compared. Our Sample I: the z<1 long GRBs (LGRBs) with SNe association (SN-GRBs) and with early Swift/X-Ray Telescope (XRT) observations, consists of 18 GRBs, among which only two GRBs have bright X-ray flares. Our Sample II: for comparison, all the z<1 LGRBs without observed SNe association and with early Swift/XRT observations, consists of 45 GRBs, among which 16 GRBs present bright X-ray flares. Thus, the study indicates a lower occurrence rate of bright X-ray flares in Sample I (11.1%) than in Sample II (35.6%). In addition, if dim X-ray fluctuations are included as flares, then 16.7% of Sample I and 55.6% of Sample II are found to have flares, again showing the discrepancy between these two samples. We examined the physical origin of these bright X-ray flares and found that most of them are probably related to the central engine reactivity. To understand the discrepancy, we propose that such a lower occurrence rate of flares in the SN-GRB sample may hint at an energy partition among the GRB, SNe, and X-ray flares under a saturated energy budget of massive star explosion.

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arXiv2018

Central Engine-Powered Bright X-ray Flares in Short Gamma-Ray Bursts: A Hint of Black Hole-Neutron Star Merger?

Short gamma-ray bursts may originate from the merger of double neutron stars (NS) or that of a black hole (BH) and an NS. We propose that the bright X-ray flare related to the central engine reactivity may hint a BH-NS merger, since such a merger can provide more fall-back materials and therefore a more massive accretion disk than the NS-NS merger. Based on the observed 49 short bursts with Swift/X-ray Telescope follow-up observations, we find that three bursts have bright X-ray flares, among which three flares from two bursts are probably related to the central engine reactivity. We argue that these two bursts may originate from the BH-NS merger rather than the NS-NS merger. Our suggested link between the central engine-powered bright X-ray flare and the BH-NS merger event can be checked by the future gravitational wave detections from advanced LIGO and Virgo.

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arXiv2018

Synchrotron Polarization of Relativistic Thermal Electrons

Relativistic electrons accelerated by both the first-order and the second-order Fermi accelerations in some synchrotron sources have a hybrid shape of thermal and nonthermal energy distribution. This particle acceleration result is supported by some recent numerical simulations. We calculate the synchrotron polarization by applying this electron energy distribution. The polarization degrees in the cases of active galactic nucleus (AGN) jets and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are given as examples. The possible application for the polarization study of Sgr A* is also mentioned. We finally suggest high-energy polarization measurements for these synchrotron sources to test our results.

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arXiv2017

Using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to study the physical properties GeV-TeV BL Lac objects

We fit the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 46 GeV - TeV BL Lac objects in the frame of leptonic one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model and investigate the physical properties of these objects. We use the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method to obtain the basic parameters, such as magnetic field (B), the break energy of the relativistic electron distribution ($γ'_{\rm{b}}$) and the electron energy spectral index. Based on the modeling results, we support the following scenarios on GeV-TeV BL Lac objects: (1) Some sources have large Doppler factors, implying other radiation mechanism should be considered. (2) Comparing with FSRQs, GeV-TeV BL Lac objects have weaker magnetic field and larger Doppler factor, which cause the ineffective cooling and shift the SEDs to higher bands. Their jet powers are around $4.0\times 10^{45}~\rm{ erg\cdot s}^{-1}$, comparing with radiation power, $5.0\times 10^{42}~\rm{ erg\cdot s}^{-1}$, indicating that only a small fraction of jet power is transformed into the emission power. (3) For some BL Lacs with large Doppler factors, their jet components could have two substructures, e.g., the fast core and the slow sheath. For most GeV-TeV BL Lacs, Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities are suppressed by their higher magnetic fields, leading few micro-variability or intro-day variability in the optical bands. (4) Combined with a sample of FSRQs, an anti-correlation between the peak luminosity $L_{\rm {pk}}$ and the peak frequency $ν_{\rm {pk}}$ is obtained, favoring the blazar sequence scenario. In addition, an anti-correlation between the jet power $P_{\rm {jet}}$ and the break Lorentz factor $γ_{\rm {b}}$ also supports the blazar sequence.

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arXiv2017

A comparison between SALT/SAAO observations and kilonova models for AT 2017gfo: the first electromagnetic counterpart of a gravitational wave transient - GW170817

We report on SALT low resolution optical spectroscopy and optical/IR photometry undertaken with other SAAO telescopes (MASTER-SAAO and IRSF) of the kilonova AT 2017gfo (aka SSS17a) in the galaxy NGC4993 during the first 10 days of discovery. This event has been identified as the first ever electromagnetic counterpart of a gravitational wave event, namely GW170817, which was detected by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave observatories. The event is likely due to a merger of two neutron stars, resulting in a kilonova explosion. SALT was the third telescope to obtain spectroscopy of AT 2017gfo and the first spectrum, 1.2 d after the merger, is quite blue and shows some broad features, but no identifiable spectral lines and becomes redder over time. We compare the spectral and photometric evolution with recent kilonova simulations and conclude that they are in qualitative agreement for post-merger wind models with proton: nucleon ratios of $Y_e$ = 0.25$-$0.30. The blue colour of the first spectrum is consistent with the lower opacity of the Lathanide-free r-process elements in the ejecta. Differences between the models and observations are likely due to the choice of system parameters combined with the absence of atomic data for more elements in the ejecta models.

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