arXiv subjects

Rui-Jing Lu

Publications and source records attributed to Rui-Jing Lu.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Lorentz Factor Evolution of an Expanding Jet Shell Observed in Gamma-ray Burst: Case study of GRB 160625B

The Lorentz factor of a relativistic jet and its evolution during the jet expansion are difficult to estimate, especially for the jets in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, it is related to the understanding of jet physics. Owing to the absorption of two-photon pair production ($γγ{\leftrightarrow}e^+e^-$), a high-energy spectral cutoff may appear in the radiation spectrum of GRBs. We search such kind of high-energy cutoff in GRB 160625B, which is one of the brightest bursts in recent years. It is found that the high-energy spectral cutoff is obvious for the first pulse in the second emission episode of GRB 160625B (i.e., $\sim$186-192 s after the burst first trigger), which is smooth and well-shaped. Then, we estimate the Lorentz factor and radiation location of the jet shell associated with the first pulse in the second emission episode of GRB 160625B. It is found that the radiation location increases with time. In addition, the Lorentz factor remains almost constant during the expansion of the jet shell. This reveals that the magnetization of the jet is low or intermediate in the emission region, event though the jet could be still Poynting flux dominated at smaller radii to avoid a bright thermal component in the emission episode.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Jet Radiation Properties of 4C +49.22: from the Core to Large-Scale Knots

4C +49.22 is a gamma-ray flat spectrum radio quasar with a bright and knotty jet. We investigate the properties of the core and large-scale knots by using their spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Analyzing its Fermi/LAT data in the past 8 years, a long-term steady gamma-ray emission component is found besides bright outbursts. For the core region, the gamma-ray emission together with the simultaneous emission in the low-energy bands at different epochs is explained with the single-zone leptonic model. The derived magnetization parameters and radiation efficiencies of the radio-core jet decrease as gamma-ray flux decays, likely indicating that a large part of the magnetic energy is converted to the kinetic energy of particles in pc-scale. For the large-scale knots, their radio-optical-X-ray SEDs can be reproduced with the leptonic model by considering the inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons. The sum of the predicted gamma-ray fluxes of these knots is comparable to that observed with LAT at 10^{24} Hz of the steady gamma-ray component, indicating that the steady gamma-ray emission may be partially contributed by these large-scale knots. This may conceal the flux variations of the low-level gamma-ray emission from the radio-core. The derived bulk Lorentz factors of the knots decrease along the distance to the core, illustrating as deceleration of jet in large-scale. The powers of the core and knots are roughly in the same order, but the jet changes from highly magnetized at the core region into particle-dominated at the large-scale knots.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

A comprehensive analysis of Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Data: IV. Spectral lag and Its Relation to Ep Evolution

The spectral evolution and spectral lag behavior of 92 bright pulses from 84 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed by the Fermi GBM telescope are studied. These pulses can be classified into hard-to-soft pulses (H2S, 64/92), H2S-dominated-tracking pulses (21/92), and other tracking pulses (7/92). We focus on the relationship between spectral evolution and spectral lags of H2S and H2S-dominated-tracking pulses. %in hard-to-soft pulses (H2S, 64/92) and H2S-dominating-tracking (21/92) pulses. The main trend of spectral evolution (lag behavior) is estimated with $\log E_p\propto k_E\log(t+t_0)$ (${\hatτ} \propto k_{\hatτ}\log E$), where $E_p$ is the peak photon energy in the radiation spectrum, $t+t_0$ is the observer time relative to the beginning of pulse $-t_0$, and ${\hatτ}$ is the spectral lag of photons with energy $E$ with respect to the energy band $8$-$25$ keV. For H2S and H2S-dominated-tracking pulses, a weak correlation between $k_{\hatτ}/W$ and $k_E$ is found, where $W$ is the pulse width. We also study the spectral lag behavior with peak time $t_{\rm p_E}$ of pulses for 30 well-shaped pulses and estimate the main trend of the spectral lag behavior with $\log t_{\rm p_E}\propto k_{t_p}\log E$. It is found that $k_{t_p}$ is correlated with $k_E$. We perform simulations under a phenomenological model of spectral evolution, and find that these correlations are reproduced. We then conclude that spectral lags are closely related to spectral evolution within the pulse. The most natural explanation of these observations is that the emission is from the electrons in the same fluid unit at an emission site moving away from the central engine, as expected in the models invoking magnetic dissipation in a moderately-high-$σ$ outflow.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Characteristics of Two-episode Emission Patterns in {\em Fermi} Long Gamma-Ray Bursts

Two-episode emission components separated by quiescent gaps in the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been observed in the {\em Swift} era, but there is a lack of spectral information due to the narrow energy band of the {\em Swift}/Burst Alert Telescope. In this paper, a systematic analysis of the spectral and temporal properties of the prompt emission of 101 {\em Fermi}/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor detected long GRBs show the existence of two-episode emission components in the light curves, with quiescent times of up to hundreds of seconds. We focus on investigating the differences of those two emission episodes. We find that the light curves of the two emission components exhibit different behavior, e.g., a soft emission component that either precedes or follows the main prompt emission or that the intensity of the two emission episodes are comparable with each other. No statistically significant correlation in the duration of the two emission episodes can be claimed. We define a new parameter $\varepsilon$ as the ratio of the peak flux of the first and second emission episodes and find that a higher $\varepsilon$ corresponds to a larger fluence. The preferred spectral model in our analysis is a cutoff power-law model for most GRBs. The distribution of $E_p$ for episodes I and II range from tens of keV to 1000 keV with a lognormal fit and there are no significant differences between them. Moreover, we do not find significant relationships between $\varepsilon$ and $E_p$ for the two emission episodes. Those results suggest that these two-episode emission components likely share the same physical origin.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Gamma-ray burst jet breaks revisited

Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) collimation has been inferred with the observations of achromatic steepening in GRB light curves, known as jet breaks. Identifying a jet break from a GRB afterglow lightcurve allows a measurement of the jet opening angle and true energetics of GRBs. In this paper, we reinvestigate this problem using a large sample of GRBs that have an optical jet break which is consistent with being achromatic in the X-ray band. Our sample includes 99 GRBs from February 1997 to March 2015 that have optical and, for Swift GRBs, X-ray lightcurves that are consistent with the jet break interpretation. Out of 99 GRBs we have studied, 55 GRBs are found to have temporal and spectral behaviors both before and after the break consistent with the theoretical predictions of the jet break models, respectively. These include 53 long/soft (Type II) and 2 short/hard (Type I) GRBs. Only 1 GRB is classified as the candidate of a jet break with energy injection. Another 41 and 3 GRBs are classified as the candidates with the lower and upper limits of the jet break time, respectively. The typical beaming correction factor $f_b^{-1} \sim 1000$ for Type II GRBs, suggesting an even higher total GRB event rate density in the universe. Both isotropic and jet-corrected energies have a wide span in their distributions. We also investigate several empirical correlations (Amati, Frail, Ghirlanda and Liang-Zhang) previously discussed in the literature. We find that in general most of these relations are less tight than before. The existence of early jet breaks and hence small opening angle jets, which were detected in the {\em Swfit era}, is most likely the source of scatter. If one limits the sample to jet breaks later than $10^4$ s, the Liang-Zhang relation remains tight and the Ghirlanda relation still exists. These relations are derived from Type II GRBs, and Type I GRBs usually deviate from them.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Flux and Spectral Variation Characteristics of 3C 454.3 at the GeV Band

We analyze the long-term lightcurve of 3C 454.3 observed with Fermi/LAT and investigate its relation to the flux in the radio, optical, and X-ray bands. By fitting the 1-day binned GeV lightcurve with multiple Gaussian function (MGF), we propose that the typical variability timescale in the GeV band is 1--10 days. The GeV flux variation is accompanied by the spectral variation characterized as flux-tracking, i.e., "harder when brighter". The GeV flux is correlated with the optical and X-ray fluxes, and a weak correlation between gamma-ray flux and radio flux is also observed. The gamma-ray flux is not correlated with the optical linear polarization degree for the global lightcurves, but they show a correlation for the lightcurves before MJD 56000. The power density spectrum of the global lightcurve shows an obvious turnover at ~7.7 days, which may indicate a typical variability timescale of 3C 454.3 in the gamma-ray band. This is also consistent with the derived timescales by fitting the global lightcurve with MGF. The spectral evolution and an increase of the optical linear polarization degree along with the increase of the gamma-ray flux may indicate that the radiation particles are accelerated and the magnetic field is ordered by the shock processes during the outbursts. In addition, the nature of 3C 454.3 may be consistent with the self-organized criticality system, similar to Sagittarius A, and thus the outbursts are from plasmoid ejections driven by magnetic reconnection. This may further support the idea that the jet radiation regions are magnetized.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

{\em Fermi}/GBM Short Gamma-ray Burst Catalog and Case Study for GRB 170817A/GW 170817

Motivating by the discovery of association between GW 170817 and sGRB 170817A, we present a comprehensive analysis for sGRBs observed with Fermi/GBM in 9 operation years and study the properties of sGRB 170817A -like events. We derive a catalog of 275 typical sGRBs and 48 sGRB 170817A-like weak events from the GBM data of 2217 GRBs. We visibly identify two patterns of their light curve, single episode (Pattern I, 61\% of the SGRBs) and multiple episodes (Pattern II, 39\% of the SGRBs). Their duration distribution shows a tentative bimodal feature. Their spectra can be fitted with a cutoff power-law model, except for 4 sGRBs, and the spectral indices normally distribute at $Γ=0.69\pm 0.40$. Their $E_p$ values show a tentative bimodal distribution with peaks at 145 keV and 500 keV. No correlation among $T_{90}$, $E_p$, and $Γ$ is found. GRB 170817A is a soft, weak sGRB with $ E_{p}=124\pm 106$ keV, $L_{\rm iso}=(5.67\pm4.65)\times10^{46}\rm ~erg~s^{-1}$, and $E_{\rm iso}=(3.23\pm2.65)\times10^{46}\rm ~erg$. It follows the $E_{\rm iso}-E_{\rm p}$ relation of typical short GRBs. Its lightcurve is of Pattern II. Two lightcurve patterns, together with the potential two components in the $E_{\rm p}$ and $T_{90}$ distributions, we suspect that the current sample may include two distinct types of sGRBs from different progenitors. sGRB 170817A-like events may be from NS-NS mergers and those sGRBs with a Pattern I lightcurve may be from another distinct type of compact binary.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Extremely bright GRB 160625B with multi-episodes emission: Evidences for long-term ejecta evolution

GRB 160625B is an extremely bright GRB with three distinct emission episodes. By analyzing its data observed with the GBM and LAT on board the {\em Fermi} mission, we find that a multi-color black body (mBB) model can be used to fit the spectra of initial short episode (Episode I) very well within the hypothesis of photosphere emission of a fireball model. The time-resolved spectra of its main episode (Episode II), which was detected with both GBM and LAT after a long quiet stage ($\sim 180$ seconds) of the initial episode, can be fitted with a model composing of an mBB component plus a cutoff power-law (CPL) component. This GRB was detected again in the GBM and LAT bands with a long extended emission (Episode III) after a quiet period of $\sim 300$ seconds. The spectrum of Episode III is adequately fitted with a CPL plus a single power-law models, and no mBB component is required. These features may imply that the emission of three episodes are dominated by distinct physics process, i.e., Episode I is possible from cocoon emission surrounding the relativistic jet, Episode II may be from photosphere emission and internal shock of relativistic jet, and Episode III is contributed by internal and external shocks of relativistic jet. On the other hand, both X-ray and optical afterglows are consistent with standard external shocks model.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Multiple Wavelength Variability and Quasi-Periodic Oscillation of PMN J0948+0022

We present a comprehensive analysis of multiple wavelength observational data of the first GeV-selected narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy PMN J0948+0022. We derive its lightcurves in the γ-ray and X-ray bands from the data observed with Fermi/LAT and Swift/XRT, and make the optical and radio lightcurves by collecting the data from the literature. These lightcurves show significant flux variations. With the LAT data we show that this source is analogue to typical flat spectrum radio quasars in the $L_γ-Γ_γ$ plane, where $L_γ$ and $Γ_γ$ are the luminosity and spectral index in the LAT energy band. The gamma-ray flux is correlated with the V-band flux with a lag of ~44 days, and a moderate quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) with a periodicity of ~490 days observed in the LAT lightcurve. A similar QPO signature is also found in the V-band lightcurve. The gamma-ray flux is not correlated with the radio flux in 15 GHz, and no similar QPO signature is found in a confidence level of 95%. Possible mechanisms of the QPO are discussed. We propose that gravitational wave observations in the future may clarify the current plausible models for the QPO.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Steep Decay Phase Shaped by the Curvature Effect. II. Spectral Evolution

We derive a simple analytical formula to describe the evolution of spectral index $β$ in the steep decay phase shaped by the curvature effect with assumption that the spectral parameters and Lorentz factor of jet shell is the same for different latitude. Here, the value of $β$ is estimated in 0.3$-$10keV energy band. For a spherical thin shell with a cutoff power law (CPL) intrinsic radiation spectrum, the spectral evolution can be read as a linear function of observer time. For the situation with Band function intrinsic radiation spectrum, the spectral evolution may be complex. If the observed break energy of radiation spectrum is larger than 10keV, the spectral evolution is the same as that shaped by jet shells with a CPL spectrum. If the observed break energy is less than 0.3keV, the value of $β$ would be a constant. Others, the spectral evolution can be approximated as a logarithmal function of the observer time in generally.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Steep Decay Phase Shaped by the Curvature Effect. I. Flux Evolution

The curvature effect may be responsible for the steep decay phase observed in gamma-ray bursts. For testing the curvature effect with observations, the zero time point $t_0$ adopted to plot observer time and flux on a logarithmic scale should be appropriately selected. In practice, however, the true $t_0$ cannot be directly constrained from the data. Then, we move $t_0$ to a certain time in the steep decay phase, which can be easily identified. In this situation, we derive an analytical formula to describe the flux evolution of the steep decay phase. The analytical formula is read as $F_ν\propto (1+\tilde t_{\rm obs}/{\tilde t_c})^{-α}$ with $α(\tilde{t}_{\rm obs})=2+{\int_{0}^{\log (1+\tilde{t}_{\rm obs}/{\tilde{t}_c})} {β(τ)d[\log(1+τ/{\tilde{t}_c})]}}/{\log (1 + {\tilde t}_{\rm obs}/{{\tilde t}_c})}$, where $F_ν$ is the flux observed at frequency $ν$, $\tilde t_{\rm obs}$ is the observer time by setting zero time point $t_0$ at a certain time in the steep decay phase, $β$ is the spectral index estimated around $ν$, and ${\tilde t}_c$ is the decay timescale of the phase with $\tilde{t}_{\rm obs}{\geqslant}0$. We test the analytical formula with the data from numerical calculations. It is found that the analytical formula presents a well estimation about the evolution of flux shaped by the curvature effect. Our analytical formula can be used to confront the curvature effect with observations and estimate the decay timescale of the steep decay phase.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Evaluating Optical Classification for {\em Fermi} Blazar Candidates with a Statistical method using Broadband Spectral Indices

We aim to test if a blazar candidate of uncertain-type (BCU) in the third Fermi active galactic nuclei catalog (3LAC) can be potentially classified as a BL Lac object or a flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) by performing a statistical analysis of its broadband spectral properties. We find that 34% of the radio-selected BCUs (583 BCUs) are BL Lac-like and 20% of them are FSRQ-like, which maybe within 90% level of confidence. Similarly, 77.3% of the X-ray selected BCUs (176 BCUs) are evaluated as BL Lac-like and 6.8% of them may be FSRQ-like sources. And 88.7% of the BL Lac-like BCUs that have synchrotron peak frequencies available are high synchrotron peaked BL Lacs in the X-ray selected BCUs. The percentages are accordingly 62% and 7.3% in the sample of 124 optical-selected BCUs. The high ratio of source numbers of the BL Lac-like to the FSRQ-like BCUs in the X-ray and optically selected BCU samples is due to the selection effect. Examining the consistency between our evaluation and spectroscopic identification case by case with a sample of 78 radio-selected BCUs, it is found that the statistical analysis and its resulting classifications agree with the results of the optical follow-up spectroscopic observations. Our observation campaign for high-|ρ_{s}| BCUs , i.e., |ρ_{s}|>0.8, selected with our method is ongoing.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

Cosmic Evolution of Long Gamma-Ray Burst Luminosity

The cosmic evolution of gamma-ray burst (GRB) luminosity is essential for revealing the GRB physics and for using GRBs as cosmological probes. We investigate the luminosity evolution of long GRBs with a large sample of 258 {\em Swift}/BAT GRBs. Parameterized the peak luminosity of individual GRBs evolves as $L_{\rm p}\propto{\rm }(1+z)^{k}$, we get $k=1.49\pm0.19$ using the non-parametric $τ$ statistics method without considering observational biases of GRB trigger and redshift measurement. By modeling these biases with the observed peak flux and characterizing the peak luminosity function of long GRBs as a smoothly broken power-law with a break that evolves as $L_{\rm b}\propto (1+z)^{k_{\rm b}}$, we obtain $k_{\rm b}=1.14^{+0.99}_{-0.47}$ through simulations based on assumption that the long GRB rate follows the star formation rate (SFR) incorporating with cosmic metallicity history. The derived $k$ and $k_b$ values are systematically smaller than that reported in previous papers. By removing the observational biases of the GRB trigger and redshift measurement based on our simulation analysis, we generate mock {\em complete} samples of 258 and 1000 GRBs to examine how these biases affects on the $τ$ statistics method. We get $k=0.94\pm 0.14$ and $k=0.80\pm 0.09$ for the two samples, indicating that these observational biases may lead to overestimate the $k$ value. With the large uncertain of $k_b$ derived from our simulation analysis, one even cannot convincingly argue a robust evolution feature of the GRB luminosity.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Photosphere emission in the X-Ray Flares of Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts and Implications for the Fireball Properties

X-ray flares of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are usually observed in the soft X-ray range and the spectral coverage is limited. In this paper, we present an analysis of 32 GRB X-ray flares that are simultaneously observed by both BAT and XRT on board the Swift mission, so a joint spectral analysis with a wider spectral coverage is possible. Our results show that the joint spectra of 19 flares are fitted with the absorbed single power-law or the Band function models. More interestingly, the joint spectra of the other 13 X-ray flares are fitted with the absorbed single power-law model plus a black body (BB) component. Phenomenally, the observed spectra of these 13 flares are analogous to several GRBs with a thermal component, but only with a much lower temperature of $kT=1\sim 3$ keV. Assuming that the thermal emission is the photosphere emission of the GRB fireball, we derive the fireball properties of the 13 flares that have redshift measurements, such as the bulk Lorentz factor $Γ_{\rm ph}$ of the outflow. The derived $Γ_{\rm ph}$ range from $50$ to $150$ and a relation of $Γ_{\rm ph}$ to the thermal emission luminosity is found. It is consistent with the $Γ_0-L_{\rm iso}$ relation that are derived for the prompt gamma-ray emission. We discuss the physical implications of these results within the content of jet composition and radiation mechanism of GRBs and X-ray flares.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Distributions of Gamma-Ray Bursts and Blazars in the $L_{\rm p}-E_{\rm p}$ Plane and Possible Implications for their Radiation Physics

We present a spectral analysis for a sample of redshift known GRBs observed with {\em Fermi}/GBM. Together with the results derived from our systematical spectral energy distribution modeling with the leptonic models for a {\em Fermi}/LAT blazar sample, we compare the distributions of the GRBs and the blazars by plotting the synchrotron peak luminosity ($L_{\rm s}$) and the corresponding peak photon energy $E_{\rm s}$ of blazars in the $L_{\rm p}-E_{\rm p}$ plane of GRBs, where $L_{\rm p}$ and $E_{\rm p}$ are the peak luminosity and peak photon energy of the GRB time-integrated $νf_ν$ spectrum, respectively. The GRBs are in the high-$L_{\rm p}$, high-$E_{\rm p}$ corner of the plane and a tight $L_{\rm p}-E_{\rm p}$ relation is found, i.e., $L_{\rm p}\propto E_{\rm p}^{2.13^{+0.54}_{-0.46}}$. Both FSRQs and LBLs are clustered in the low-$E_{\rm p}$, low-$L_{\rm p}$ corner. IBLs and HBLs have $E_{\rm s}\sim 2\times 10^{-3} - 10^{2}$ keV and $L_{\rm s} \sim 10^{44} - 10^{47}$ erg s$^{-1}$, but no dependence of $L_{\rm s}$ on $E_{\rm s}$ is found. We show that the tight $L_p-E_p$ relation of GRBs is potentially explained with the synchrotron radiation of fast-cooling electrons in a highly magnetized ejecta, and the weak anti-correlation of $L_{\rm s}-E_{\rm s}$ for FSRQs and LBLs may be attributed to synchrotron radiation of slow-cooling electrons in a moderately magnetized ejecta. The distributions of IBLs and HBLs in the $L_{\rm p}-E_{\rm p}$ plane may be interpreted with synchrotron radiation of fast-cooling electrons in a matter-dominated ejecta. These results may present a unified picture for the radiation physics of relativistic jets in GRBs and blazars within the framework of the leptonic synchrotron radiation models.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Internal Energy Dissipation of Gamma-Ray Bursts Observed with Swift: Precursors, Prompt Gamma-rays, Extended emission and Late X-ray Flares

We jointly analyze the gamma-ray burst (GRB) data observed with BAT and XRT on board the Swift mission to present a global view on the internal energy dissipation processes in GRBs, including precursors, prompt gamma-ray emission, extended soft gamma-ray emission, and late X-ray flares. The Bayesian block method is utilized to analyze the BAT lightcurves to identify various emission episodes. Our results suggest that these emission components likely share a same physical origin, which is repeated activation of the GRB central engine. What we observe in the gamma-ray band may be the tip-of-iceberg of more extended underlying activities. The precursor emission, which is detected in about 10% of {\em Swift} GRBs, is preferably detected in those GRBs that have a massive star core-collapse origin. The soft extended emission (EE) tail, on the other hand, is preferably detected in those GRBs that have a compact star merger origin. Bright X-ray emission is detected during the BAT quiescent phases prior to subsequent gamma-ray peaks, implying that X-ray emission may be detectable prior the BAT trigger time. Future GRB alert instruments with soft X-ray capability would be essential to reveal the early stage of GRB central engine activities, sheding light into jet composition and jet launching mechanism in GRBs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Relativistic Jet Properties of GeV-TeV Blazars and Possible Implications for the Jet Formation, Composition, and Cavity Kinematics

We fit the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of a GeV-TeV FSRQ sample with the leptonic model. Their gamma_min of the relativistic electron distributions, which significantly affect the estimates of the jet properties, are constrained, with a typical value of 48. Their jet power, magnetized parameter, radiation efficiency, and jet production/radiation rates per central black hole (BH) mass are derived and compared to that of BL Lacs. We show that he FSRQ jets may be dominated by the Poynting flux and have a high radiation efficiency, whereas the BL Lac jets are likely dominated by particles and have a lower radiation efficiency than FSRQs. Being different from BL Lacs, the jet powers of FSRQs are proportional to their central BH masses. The jet production and radiation rates of the FSRQs distribute in narrow ranges and are correlated with each other, whereas no similar feature is found for the BL Lacs. We also show that the jet power is correlated with the cavity kinetic power, and the magnetic field energy in the jets may provide the cavity kinetic energy of FSRQs and the kinetic energy of cold protons in the jets may be crucial for cavity kinetic energy of BL Lacs. We suggest that the dominating formation mechanism of FSRQ jets may be the BZ process, but BL Lac jets may be produced via the BP and/or BZ processes, depending on the structures and accretion rates of accretion disks.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2013

A Comprehensive Study of Gamma-Ray Burst Optical Emission: III. Brightness Distributions and Luminosity Functions of Optical Afterglows

We continue our systematic statistical study on optical afterglow data of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We present the apparent magnitude distributions of early optical afterglows at different epochs (t= 10^2 s, t = 10^3 s, and 1 hour) for the optical lightcurves of a sample of 93 GRBs (the global sample), and for sub-samples with an afterglow onset bump or a shallow decay segment. For the onset sample and shallow decay sample we also present the brightness distribution at the peak time t_{p} and break time t_{b}, respectively. All the distributions can be fit with Gaussian functions. We further perform Monte Carlo simulations to infer the luminosity function of GRB optical emission at the rest-frame time 10^3 seconds, t_{p}, and t_{b}, respectively. Our results show that a single power-law luminosity function is adequate to model the data, with indices -1.40+/-0.10, -1.06+/- 0.16, and -1.54\+/- 0.22, respectively. Based on the derived rest-frame 10^3 s luminosity function, we generate the intrinsic distribution of the R-band apparent magnitude M_{R} at the observed time 10^{3} seconds post trigger, which peaks at M_{R}=22.5 mag. The fraction of GRBs whose R-band magnitude is fainter than 22 mag, and 25 mag and at the observer time 10^3 seconds are ~63% and ~25%, respectively. The detection probabilities of the optical afterglows with ground-based robotic telescopes and UVOT onboard {Swift} are roughly consistent with that inferred from this intrinsic M_{R} distribution, indicating that the variations of the dark GRB fraction among the samples with different telescopes may be due to the observational selection effect, although the existence of an intrinsically dark GRB population cannot be ruled out.

astro-ph.HE↗