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N. Fraija

Publications and source records attributed to N. Fraija.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
arXiv2020

The Optical Luminosity-Time Correlation for More Than 100 Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows

Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are fascinating events due to their panchromatic nature. Their afterglow emission is observed from sub-TeV energies to radio wavelengths. We investigate GRBs that present an optical plateau, leveraging on the resemblance with the X-ray plateau shown in many GRB light curves (LCs). We comprehensively analyze all published GRBs with known redshifts and optical plateau observed mostly by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (Swift). We fit 267 optical LCs and show the existence of the plateau in 102 cases, which is the largest compilation so far of optical plateaus. For 56 Swift GRBs with optical and X-ray plateaus, we compare the rest-frame end time at both wavelengths (T*_opt , T*_X), and conclude that the plateau is achromatic between T*_opt and T*_X. We also confirm the existence of the two-dimensional relations between T*_opt and the optical luminosity at the end of the plateau emission, which resembles the same luminosity-time correlation in X-rays (Dainotti et al. 2013). The existence of this optical correlation has been demonstrated for the largest sample of optical plateaus in the literature to date. The squared scatter in this optical correlation is smallest for the subset of the Gold GRBs with a decrease in the scatter equivalent to 52.4% when compared to the scatter of the entire GRB sample.

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arXiv2020

GRB Fermi-LAT afterglows: explaining flares, breaks, and energetic photons

The Fermi-LAT collaboration presented the second gamma-ray burst (GRB) catalog covering its first 10 years of operations. A significant fraction of afterglow-phase light curves in this catalog cannot be explained by the closure relations of the standard synchrotron forward-shock model, suggesting that there could be an important contribution from another process. In view of the above, we derive the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) light curves from the reverse shock in the thick- and thin-shell regime for a uniform-density medium. We show that this emission could explain the GeV flares exhibited in some LAT light curves. Additionally, we demonstrate that the passage of the forward shock synchrotron cooling break through the LAT band from jets expanding in a uniform-density environment may be responsible for the late time ($\approx10^2$ s) steepening of LAT GRB afterglow light curves. As a particular case, we model the LAT light curve of GRB 160509A that exhibited a GeV flare together with a break in the long-lasting emission, and also two very high energy photons with energies of 51.9 and 41.5 GeV observed 76.5 and 242 s after the onset of the burst, respectively. Constraining the microphysical parameters and the circumburst density from the afterglow observations, we show that the GeV flare is consistent with a SSC reverse-shock model, the break in the long-lasting emission with the passage of the synchrotron cooling break through the Fermi-LAT band and the very energetic photons with SSC emission from the forward shock when the outflow carries a significant magnetic field ($R_{\rm B} \simeq 30$) and it decelerates in a uniform-density medium with a very low density ($n=4.554^{+1.128}_{-1.121}\times 10^{-4}\,{\rm cm^{-3}}$).

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arXiv2020

Afterglow light curves of the non-relativistic ejecta mass in a stratified circumstellar medium

We present the afterglow light curves produced by the deceleration of the non-relativistic ejecta mass in a stratified circumstellar medium with a density profile $n(r)\propto r^{-k}$ with $k=0$, $1$, $1.5$, $2$ and $2.5$. Once the ejecta mass is launched with equivalent kinetic energy parametrized by $E(>β)\propto β^{-α}$ (where beta is the ejecta velocity) and propagates into the surrounding circumstellar medium, it first moves with constant velocity (the free-coasting phase), and later it decelerates (the Sedov-Taylor expansion). We present the predicted synchrotron and synchrotron-self Compton light curves during the free-coasting phase, and the subsequent Sedov-Taylor expansion. In particular cases, we show the corresponding light curves generated by the deceleration of several ejecta masses with different velocities launched during the coalescence of binary compact objects and the core-collapse of dying massive stars which will contribute at distinct timescales, frequencies, and intensities. Finally, using the multi-wavelength observations and upper limits collected by a large campaign of orbiting satellites and ground telescopes, we constrain the parameter space of both the KN afterglow in GW170817 and the possibly generated KN afterglow in S190814bv. Further observations on timescales of years post-merger are needed to derive tighter constraints.

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arXiv2020

HAWC and Fermi-LAT Detection of Extended Emission from the Unidentified Source 2HWC J2006+341

The discovery of the TeV point source 2HWC J2006+341 was reported in the second HAWC gamma-ray catalog. We present a follow-up study of this source here. The TeV emission is best described by an extended source with a soft spectrum. At GeV energies, an extended source is significantly detected in Fermi-LAT data. The matching locations, sizes and spectra suggest that both gamma-ray detections correspond to the same source. Different scenarios for the origin of the emission are considered and we rule out an association to the pulsar PSR J2004+3429 due to extreme energetics required, if located at a distance of 10.8 kpc.

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arXiv2020

A survey of active galaxies at TeV photon energies with the HAWC gamma-ray observatory

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma-Ray Observatory (HAWC) continuously detects TeV photons and particles within its large field-of-view, accumulating every day a deeper exposure of two thirds of the sky. We analyzed 1523~days of HAWC live data acquired over four and a half years, in a follow-up analysis of {138} nearby ($z<0.3$) active galactic nuclei from the {\em Fermi} 3FHL catalog culminating within $40^\circ$ of the zenith at Sierra Negra, the HAWC site. This search for persistent TeV emission used a maximum-likelihood analysis assuming intrinsic power-law spectra attenuated by pair production of gamma-ray photons with the extragalactic background light. HAWC clearly detects persistent emission from Mkn~421 and Mkn~501, the two brightest blazars in the TeV sky, at 65$σ$ and 17$σ$ level, respectively. {Weaker evidence for long-term emission is found for three other known very-high energy emitters:} the radiogalaxy M87 and the BL Lac objects VER~J0521+211 and 1ES~1215+303, the later two at $z\sim 0.1$. We find evidence for collective emission from the set of 30 previously reported very high-energy sources that excludes Mkn~421 and Mkn~501 with a random probability $\sim 10^{-5}$. Upper limits are presented for the sample under the power-law assumption and in the predefined (0.5-2.0), (2.0-8.0) and (8.0-32.0) TeV energy intervals.

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arXiv2020

HAWC J2227+610 and its association with G106.3+2.7, a new potential Galactic PeVatron

We present the detection of VHE gamma-ray emission above 100 TeV from HAWC J2227+610 with the HAWC observatory. Combining our observations with previously published results by VERITAS, we interpret the gamma-ray emission from HAWC J2227+610 as emission from protons with a lower limit in their cutoff energy of 800 TeV. The most likely source of the protons is the associated supernova remnant G106.3+2.7, making it a good candidate for a Galactic PeVatron. However, a purely leptonic origin of the observed emission cannot be excluded at this time.

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arXiv2020

Description of atypical bursts seen slightly off-axis

The detection of gravitational waves together with their electromagnetic counterpart, in the gamma-ray burst GRB 170817A, marked a new era of multi-messenger astronomy. Several theoretical models have been proposed to explain the atypical behavior of this event. Recently, it was shown that the multi-wavelength afterglow of GRB 170817A was consistent with a synchrotron forward-shock model when the outflow was viewed off-axis, decelerated in a uniform medium and parametrized through a power-law velocity distribution. Motivated by the upper limits on the very-high-energy emission, and the stratified medium in the close vicinity of a binary neutron star merger proposed to explain the gamma-ray flux in the short GRB 150101B, we extend the mechanism proposed to explain GRB 170817A to a more general scenario deriving the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) and synchrotron forward-shock model when the off-axis outflow is decelerated in a uniform and stratified circumburst density. As particular cases, we show that the delayed and long-lasting afterglow emission observed in GRB 080503, GRB140903A, GRB 150101B, and GRB 160821B could be interpreted by a similar scenario to the one used to describe GRB 170817A. In addition, we show that the proposed scenario agrees with the MAGIC, Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S upper limits on gamma-ray emission from GRB 160821B and GRB 170817A.

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arXiv2020

Constraints on Lorentz invariance violation from HAWC observations of gamma rays above 100 TeV

Due to the high energies and long distances to the sources, astrophysical observations provide a unique opportunity to test possible signatures of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). Superluminal LIV enables the decay of photons at high energy. The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory is among the most sensitive gamma-ray instruments currently operating above 10 TeV. HAWC finds evidence of 100 TeV photon emission from at least four astrophysical sources. These observations exclude, for the strongest of the limits set, the LIV energy scale to $2.2\times10^{31}$ eV, over 1800 times the Planck energy and an improvement of 1 to 2 orders of magnitude over previous limits.

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arXiv2020

On the origin of the multi-GeV photons from the closest burst with intermediate luminosity: GRB 190829A

Very-high-energy (VHE) emission is usually interpreted in the synchrotron-self Compton (SSC) scenario, and expected from the low-redshift and high-luminosity gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), as GRB 180720B and GRB 190114C. Recently, VHE emission was detected by the H.E.S.S. telescopes from one of the closest burst GRB 190829A which was associated with the supernova (SN) 2019oyw. In this paper, we present a temporal and spectral analysis from optical bands to Fermi-LAT energy range over multiple observational periods beginning just after the BAT trigger time and extending for almost three months. We show that the X-ray and optical observations are consistent with synchrotron forward-shock emission evolving between the characteristic and cooling spectral breaks during the early and late afterglow in a uniform-density medium. Modeling the light curves together with its spectral energy distribution, it is shown that the outflow expands with an initial bulk Lorentz factor of $Γ\sim 30$, which is high for a low-luminosity GRBs and low for a high-luminosity GRBs. The values of the initial bulk Lorentz factor and the isotropic equivalent energy suggest that GRB 190829A is classified as an intermediate-luminosity burst and consequently, it becomes the first burst of this class in being detected in the VHE gamma-ray band by an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope, and, in turn, the first event without being simultaneously observed by the Fermi-LAT instrument. Analyzing the intermediate-luminosity bursts with $z\lesssim 0.2$ such as GRB 130702A, we show that bursts with intermediate luminosity are potential candidates to be detected in very-high energies.

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arXiv2020

Constraints on the Emission of Gamma Rays from M31 with HAWC

Cosmic rays, along with stellar radiation and magnetic fields, are known to make up a significant fraction of the energy density of galaxies such as the Milky Way. When cosmic rays interact in the interstellar medium, they produce gamma-ray emission which provides an important indication of how the cosmic rays propagate. Gamma rays from the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), located 785 kpc away, provide a unique opportunity to study cosmic-ray acceleration and diffusion in a galaxy with a structure and evolution very similar to the Milky Way. Using 33 months of data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory, we search for TeV gamma rays from the galactic plane of M31. We also investigate past and present evidence of galactic activity in M31 by searching for Fermi Bubble-like structures above and below the galactic nucleus. No significant gamma-ray emission is observed, so we use the null result to compute upper limits on the energy density of cosmic rays $>10$ TeV in M31. The computed upper limits are approximately ten times higher than expected from the extrapolation of the Fermi LAT results.

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arXiv2020

Constraining the Local Burst Rate Density of Primordial Black Holes with HAWC

Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) may have been created by density fluctuations in the early Universe and could be as massive as $> 10^9$ solar masses or as small as the Planck mass. It has been postulated that a black hole has a temperature inversely-proportional to its mass and will thermally emit all species of fundamental particles via Hawking Radiation. PBHs with initial masses of $\sim 5 \times 10^{14}$ g (approximately one gigaton) should be expiring today with bursts of high-energy gamma radiation in the GeV--TeV energy range. The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory is sensitive to gamma rays with energies of $\sim$300 GeV to past 100 TeV, which corresponds to the high end of the PBH burst spectrum. With its large instantaneous field-of-view of $\sim 2$ sr and a duty cycle over 95%, the HAWC Observatory is well suited to perform an all-sky search for PBH bursts. We conducted a search using 959 days of HAWC data and exclude the local PBH burst rate density above $3400~\mathrm{pc^{-3}~yr^{-1}}$ at 99% confidence, the strongest limit on the local PBH burst rate density from any existing electromagnetic measurement.

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arXiv2020

Multiple Galactic Sources with Emission Above 56 TeV Detected by HAWC

We present the first catalog of gamma-ray sources emitting above 56 and 100 TeV with data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory, a wide field-of-view observatory capable of detecting gamma rays up to a few hundred TeV. Nine sources are observed above 56 TeV, all of which are likely Galactic in origin. Three sources continue emitting past 100 TeV, making this the highest-energy gamma-ray source catalog to date. We report the integral flux of each of these objects. We also report spectra for three highest-energy sources and discuss the possibility that they are PeVatrons.

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arXiv2019

Measurement of the Crab Nebula Spectrum Past 100 TeV with HAWC

We present TeV gamma-ray observations of the Crab Nebula, the standard reference source in ground-based gamma-ray astronomy, using data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-Ray Observatory. In this analysis we use two independent energy-estimation methods that utilize extensive air shower variables such as the core position, shower angle, and shower lateral energy distribution. In contrast, the previously published HAWC energy spectrum roughly estimated the shower energy with only the number of photomultipliers triggered. This new methodology yields a much improved energy resolution over the previous analysis and extends HAWC's ability to accurately measure gamma-ray energies well beyond 100 TeV. The energy spectrum of the Crab Nebula is well fit to a log parabola shape $\left(\frac{dN}{dE} = ϕ_0 \left(E/\textrm{7 TeV}\right)^{-α-β\ln\left(E/\textrm{7 TeV}\right)}\right)$ with emission up to at least 100 TeV. For the first estimator, a ground parameter that utilizes fits to the lateral distribution function to measure the charge density 40 meters from the shower axis, the best-fit values are $ϕ_o$=(2.35$\pm$0.04$^{+0.20}_{-0.21}$)$\times$10$^{-13}$ (TeV cm$^2$ s)$^{-1}$, $α$=2.79$\pm$0.02$^{+0.01}_{-0.03}$, and $β$=0.10$\pm$0.01$^{+0.01}_{-0.03}$. For the second estimator, a neural network which uses the charge distribution in annuli around the core and other variables, these values are $ϕ_o$=(2.31$\pm$0.02$^{+0.32}_{-0.17}$)$\times$10$^{-13}$ (TeV cm$^2$ s)$^{-1}$, $α$=2.73$\pm$0.02$^{+0.03}_{-0.02}$, and $β$=0.06$\pm$0.01$\pm$0.02. The first set of uncertainties are statistical; the second set are systematic. Both methods yield compatible results. These measurements are the highest-energy observation of a gamma-ray source to date.

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arXiv2019

Modeling the observations of GRB 180720B: From radio to sub-TeV gamma-rays

Early and late multiwavelength observations play an important role in determining the nature of the progenitor, circumburst medium, physical processes and emitting regions associated to the spectral and temporal features of bursts. GRB 180720B is a long and powerful burst detected by a large number of observatories in multiwavelenths that range from radio bands to sub-TeV gamma-rays. The simultaneous multiwavelength observations were presented over multiple periods of time beginning just after the trigger time and extending for more than 30 days. The temporal and spectral analysis of Fermi LAT observations suggests that it presents similar characteristics to other bursts detected by this instrument. Coupled with X-ray and optical observations, the standard external-shock model in a homogeneous medium is favored by this analysis. The X-ray flare is consistent with the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model from the reverse-shock region evolving in a thin shell and long-lived LAT, X-ray and optical data with the standard synchrotron forward-shock model. The best-fit parameters derived with the Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations indicate that the outflow is endowed with magnetic fields and that the radio observations are in the self-absorption regime. The SSC forward-shock model with our parameters can explain the LAT photons beyond the synchrotron limit as well as the emission recently reported by the HESS Collaboration.

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arXiv2019

Signatures from a quasi-spherical outflow and an off-axis top-hat jet launched in a merger of compact objects: An analytical approach

The production of both gravitational waves and short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) is widely associated with the merger of compact objects. Several studies have modelled the evolution of the electromagnetic emission using the synchrotron emission produced by the deceleration of both a relativistic top-hat jet seen off-axis, and a wide-angle quasi-spherical outflow (both using numerical studies). In this study we present an analytical model of the synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission for an off-axis top-hat jet and a quasi-spherical outflow. We calculate the light curves obtained from an analytic model in which the synchrotron and SSC emission (in the fast- or slow-cooling regime) of an off-axis top-hat jet and a quasi-spherical outflow are decelerated in either a homogeneous or a wind-like circumburst medium. We show that the synchrotron emission of the quasi-spherical outflow is stronger than that of the off-axis jet during the first $\sim$ 10 - 20 days, and weaker during the next $\gtrsim$ 80 days. Moreover, we show that if the off-axis jet is decelerated in a wind-like medium, then the SSC emission is very likely to be detected. Applying a MCMC code to our model (for synchrotron emission only), we find the best-fit values for the radio, optical and X-ray emission of GRB 170817A which are in accordance with observations. For GRB 170817A, we find using our model that the synchrotron emission generated by the quasi-spherical outflow and off-axis top-hat jet increase as $F_ν\propto t^α$ with $α\lesssim 0.8$ and $α>3$, respectively. Finally, we obtain the correspondent SSC light curves which are in accordance with the very-high-energy gamma-ray upper limits derived with the GeV - TeV observatories.

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arXiv2019

Synchrotron self-Compton as a likely mechanism of photons beyond the synchrotron limit in GRB 190114C

GRB 190114C, a long and luminous burst, was detected by several satellites and ground-based telescopes from radio wavelengths to GeV gamma-rays. In the GeV gamma-rays, the Fermi LAT detected 48 photons above 1 GeV during the first hundred seconds after the trigger time, and the MAGIC telescopes observed for more than one thousand seconds very-high-energy (VHE) emission above 300 GeV. Previous analysis of the multi-wavelength observations showed that although these are consistent with the synchrotron forward-shock model that evolves from a stratified stellar-wind to homogeneous ISM-like medium, photons above few GeVs can hardly be interpreted in the synchrotron framework. In the context of the synchrotron forward-shock model, we derive the light curves and spectra of the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model in the stratified and homogeneous medium. In particular, we study the evolution of these light curves during the stratified-to-homogeneous afterglow transition. Using the best-fit parameters reported for GRB 190114C we interpret the photons beyond the synchrotron limit in the SSC framework and model its spectral energy distribution. We conclude that low-redshift GRBs described under a favourable set of parameters as found in the early afterglow of GRB 190114C could be detected at hundreds of GeVs, and also afterglow transitions would allow that VHE emission could be observed for longer periods.

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arXiv2019

Gamma-ray light curves for the BL Lac Mrk 421 using HAWC data derived with a new approach

The HAWC gamma ray observatory is located at the Sierra Negra Volcano in Puebla, Mexico, at an altitude of 4,100 meters. HAWC is a wide field of view array of 300 water Cherenkov detectors that are continuously surveying 2sr of the sky since March 2015. The large collected data sample consisting in more than 3 years makes HAWC an ideal instrument to perform an unbiased monitoring of blazars in the very-high-energy (VHE) emission. This is particular relevant for Mrk 421, one of the closest and brightest blazars in the gamma-ray/X-ray classified as highsynchrotron-peaked BL Lac class. In this work we present light curves for Mrk 421 and the Crab nebula obtained with the first 17 months of data and a new analysis framework. We compare the results with the light curves reported in [1]. The main advantage of the new framework is the capability to derive fluxes for arbitrary timescales. We show that both, previous and present, methods give consistent results

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