arXiv subjects

Rui-Jing Lu

Publications and source records attributed to Rui-Jing Lu.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

A Comprehensive Study of Gamma-Ray Burst Optical Emission: II. Afterglow Onset and Late Re-Brightening Components

We continue our systematic statistical study of various components in gamma-ray burst (GRB) optical lightcurves. We decompose the early onset bump and the late re-brightening bump with empirical fits and analyze their statistical properties. Among the 146 GRBs that have well-sampled optical lightcurves, the onset and re-brightening bumps are observed in 38 and 26 GRBs, respectively. It is found that the typical rising and decaying slopes for both the onset and re-brightening bumps are ~1.5 and -1.15, respectively. No early onset bumps in the X-ray band are detected to be associated with the optical onset bumps, while an X-ray re-brightening bump is detected for half of the re-brightening optical bumps. The peak luminosity is anti-correlated with the peak time, L_p\propto t_{p}^{-1.81+/-0.32} and L_p\propto t_{p}^{-0.83+/-0.17} for the onset and re-brightening bumps, respectively. Both L_p and the isotropic energy release of the onset bumps are correlated with E_{γ, iso}, whereas no similar correlation is found for the re-brightening bumps. Taking the onset bumps as probes for the properties of the fireballs and their ambient medium, we find that the typical power-law index of the relativistic electrons is 2.5 and the medium density profile behaves as n\propto r^{-1} within the framework of the synchrotron external shock models. With the medium density profile obtained from our analysis, we also confirm the correlation between initial Lorentz factor (Γ_0) and E_{γ, iso} in our previous work. The jet component that produces the re-brightening bump seems to be on-axis and independent of the prompt emission jet component. Its typical kinetic energy budget would be about one order of magnitude larger than the prompt emission component, but with a lower Γ_0, typically several tens.

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arXiv2013

GRB 121027A: long-lasting, energetic X-ray flares and clues to radiation mechanism and progenitor star

GRB 121027A is un-usual with its extremely long-lasting, energetic X-ray flares. The total energy release in X-ray flares is about one order of magnitude higher than prompt gamma-rays, making it special from most long GRBs. We show that while the prompt gamma-ray emission satisfies the empirical E_{iso}-E_{p} relation of typical long GRBs, the X-ray flares, whose spectra can be fit with a cutoff-power-law model with well-constrained E_p, significantly deviate from such a relation. Nonetheless, a time-resolved spectral analysis of X-ray flares suggest that the X-ray emission is consistent with the L_{iso}-E_{p} relation of long GRBs. We constrain the minimum Lorentz factor of the X-ray flares to be ~14, which is consistent with the Gamma-L_{iso} relation. Our results imply that prompt gamma-ray emission and late X-ray flares share the similar radiation mechanism, but originate from the outflows with different Lorentz factors. We search for similar GRBs from the Swift GRB archives, and find that the z=6.29 GRB 050904 is a carbon copy of GRB 121027A. The long-lasting, energetic X-ray flares in these GRBs demand significant accretion at late times, which point towards a large-radius progenitor star.

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arXiv2012

A Comprehensive Analysis of Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Data: III. Energy-Dependent T90 Distributions of GBM GRBs and Instrumental Selection Effect on Duration Classification

The durations (T90) of 315 GRBs detected with Fermi/GBM (8-1000 keV) by 2011 September are calculated using the Bayesian Block method. We compare the T90 distributions between this sample and those derived from previous/current GRB missions. We show that the T90 distribution of this GRB sample is bimodal, with a statistical significance level being comparable to those derived from the BeppoSAX/GRBM sample and the Swift/BAT sample, but lower than that derived from the CGRO/BATSE sample. The short-to-long GRB number ratio is also much lower than that derived from the BATSE sample, i.e., 1:6.5 vs 1:3. We measure T90 in several bands, i.e., 8-15, 15-25, 25-50, 50-100, 100-350, and 350-1000 keV, to investigate the energy-dependence effect of the bimodal T90 distribution. It is found that the bimodal feature is well observed in the 50-100 and 100-350 keV bands, but is only marginally acceptable in the 25-50 keV and 350-1000 keV bands. The hypothesis of the bimodality is confidently rejected in the 8-15 and 15-25 keV bands. The T90 distributions in these bands are roughly consistent with those observed by missions with similar energy bands. The parameter T90 as a function of energy follows \bar T90 \propto E^{-0.20\pm 0.02} for long GRBs. Considering the erratic X-ray and optical flares, the duration of a burst would be even much longer for most GRBs. Our results, together with the observed extended emission of some short GRBs, indicate that the central engine activity time scale would be much longer than T90} for both long and short GRBs and the observed bimodal T90 distribution may be due to an instrumental selection effect.

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arXiv2012

GRB 110721A: photosphere "death line" and the physical origin of the GRB "Band" function

The prompt emission spectra of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) usually have a dominant component that is well described by a phenomenological "Band" function. The physical origin of this spectral component is debated. Although the traditional interpretation is synchrotron radiation of non-thermal electrons accelerated in internal shocks or magnetic dissipation regions, a growing trend in the community is to interpret this component as modified thermal emission from a dissipative photosphere of a GRB fireball. We analyze the time dependent spectrum of GRB 110721A detected by {\em Fermi} GBM and LAT, and pay special attention to the rapid evolution of the peak energy $E_p$. We define a "death line" of thermally-dominated dissipative photospheric emission in the $E_p - L$ plane, and show that $E_p$ of GRB 110721A at the earliest epoch has a very high $E_p \sim 15$ MeV that is beyond the "death line". Together with the finding that an additional "shoulder" component exists in this burst that is consistent with a photospheric origin, we suggest that at least for some bursts, the "Band" component is not from a dissipative photosphere, but must invoke a non-thermal origin (e.g. synchrotron or inverse Compton) in the optically thin region of a GRB outflow. We also suggest that the rapid "hard-to-soft" spectral evolution is consistent with the quick discharge of magnetic energy in a magnetically-dominated outflow in the optically thin region.

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arXiv2012

A Comprehensive Study of Gamma-Ray Burst Optical Emission: I. Flares and Early Shallow Decay Component

Well-sampled optical lightcurves of 146 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are compiled from the literature. By empirical fitting we identify eight possible emission components and summarize the results in a "synthetic" lightcurve. Both optical flare and early shallow-decay components are likely related to long-term central engine activities. We focus on their statistical properties in this paper. Twenty-four optical flares are obtained from 19 GRBs. The isotropic R-band energy is smaller than 1% of $E_{γ, \rm iso}$. The relation between isotropic luminosities of the flares and gamma-rays follows $L^{\rm F}_{\rm R, iso}\propto L_{γ, \rm iso}^{1.11\pm 0.27}$. Later flares tend to be wider and dimmer, i.e., $w^{\rm F}\sim t^{\rm F}_{\rm p}/2$ and $L^{\rm F}_{\rm R, iso}\propto [t^{\rm F}_{\rm p}/(1+z)]^{-1.15\pm0.15}$. The detection probability of the optical flares is much smaller than that of X-ray flares. An optical shallow decay segment is observed in 39 GRBs. The relation between the break time and break luminosity is a power-law, with an index of $-0.78\pm 0.08$, similar to that derived from X-ray flares. The X-ray and optical breaks are usually chromatic, but a tentative correlation is found. We suggest that similar to the prompt optical emission that tracks $γ$-rays, the optical flares are also related to the erratic behavior of the central engine. The shallow decay component is likely related to a long-lasting spinning-down central engine or piling up of flare materials onto the blastwave. Mixing of different emission components may be the reason of the diverse chromatic afterglow behaviors.

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arXiv2012

A Comprehensive Analysis of Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Data: II. $E_{\rm p}$-Evolution Patterns and Implications for the Observed Spectrum-Luminosity Relations

We present a time-resolved spectral analysis of 51 long and 11 short bright GRBs observed with the {\em Femri}/GBM, paying special attention to $E_{\rm p}$ evolution within a same burst. Among 8 single-pulse long GRBs, 5 show hard-to-soft evolution, while 3 show intensity-tracking. The multi-pulse long GRBs have more complicated patterns. Among the GRBs whose time-resolved spectrum is available for the first pulse, almost half (15/32 GRBs) show clear hard-to-soft evolution, and the other half (17/32 GRBs) show clear intensity-tracking. Later pulses typically show the tracking behavior, although a hard-to-soft evolution pattern was identified in the 2nd pulse of 2 GRBs whose pulses are well separated. Statistically, the hard-to-soft evolution pulses tend to be more asymmetric than the intensity-tracking ones, with a steeper rising wing than the falling wing. Short GRBs have $E_{\rm p}$ tracking intensity exclusively with the 16ms time resolution analysis. We performed a simulation analysis, and suggest that at least for some bursts, the late intensity-tracking pulses could be a consequence of overlapping hard-to-soft pulses. However, the fact that the intensity-tracking pattern exists in the first pulse of multi-pulse long GRBs and some single-pulse GRBs suggest that intensity tracking is an independent component, which may operate in some late pulses as well. For the GRBs with measured redshifts, we present a time-resolved $E_{\rm p}-L_{γ, \rm iso}$ correlation analysis and show that the scatter of the correlation is comparable to that of the global Amati/Yonetoku relation. We discuss the predictions of various radiation models regarding $E_{\rm p}$ evolution, as well as the possibility of a precession jet in GRBs. It seems that the data pose great challenge to all these models, and hold the key to unveil the physics of GRB prompt emission.

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arXiv2012

Selection Effects on the Observed Redshift Dependence of GRB Jet Opening Angles

Apparent redshift dependence of the jet opening angles ($θ_{\rm j}$) of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is observed from current GRB sample. We investigate whether this dependence can be explained with instrumental selection effects and observational biases by a bootstrapping method. Assuming that (1) the GRB rate follows the star formation history and the cosmic metallicity history and (2) the intrinsic distributions of the jet-corrected luminosity ($L_{\rm γ}$) and $θ_{\rm j}$ are a Gaussian or a power-law function, we generate a mock {\em Swift}/BAT sample by considering various instrumental selection effects, including the flux threshold and the trigger probability of BAT, the probabilities of a GRB jet pointing to the instrument solid angle and the probability of redshift measurement. Our results well reproduce the observed $θ_{\rm j}-z$ dependence. We find that in case of $L_γ\propto θ_{\rm j}^2$ good consistency between the mock and observed samples can be obtained, indicating that both $L_{\rm γ}$ and $θ_{\rm j}$ are degenerate for a flux-limited sample. The parameter set $(L_{\rm γ}, θ_{\rm j})=(4.9\times 10^{49} \rm {erg\ s}^{-1},\ 0.054 {rad})$ gives the best consistency for the current {\em Swift} GRB sample. Considering the beaming effect, the derived intrinsic local GRB rate accordingly is $2.85\times 10^2$ Gpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$, inferring that $\sim 0.59%$ of Type Ib/c SNe may be accompanied by a GRB.

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arXiv2010

Simulations on High-z Long Gamma-Ray Burst Rate

Since the launch of Swift satellite, the detections of high-z (z>4) long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) have been rapidly growing, even approaching the very early Universe (the record holder currently is z=8.3). The observed high-z LGRB rate shows significant excess over that estimated from the star formation history. We investigate what may be responsible for this high productivity of GRBs at high-z through Monte Carlo simulations, with effective Swif/BAT trigger and redshift detection probabilities based on current Swift/BAT sample and CGRO/BATSE LGRB sample. We compare our simulations to the Swift observations via log N-log P, peak luminosity (L) and redshift distributions. In the case that LGRB rate is purely proportional to the star formation rate (SFR), our simulations poorly reproduce the LGRB rate at z>4, although the simulated log N-log P distribution is in good agreement with the observed one. Assuming that the excess of high-z GRB rate is due to the cosmic metallicity evolution or unknown LGRB rate increase parameterized as (1+z)^delta, we find that although the two scenarios alone can improve the consistency between our simulations and observations, incorporation of them gives much better consistency. We get 0.2 4 (~15% of GRBs in current Swift LGRB sample based on our simulations), a window for very early Universe is opening by Swift and up-coming SVOM missions.

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arXiv2006

Relative spectral lag: an new redshift indicator to measure the cosmos with gamma-ray bursts

Using 64 ms count data for long gamma-ray bursts ($T_{90}>$2.6s), we analyze the quantity, relative spectral lag (RSL), which is defined as $τ_{31}/FWHM_{(1)}$, where $τ_{31}$ is the spectral lag between energy bands 1 and 3, and $FWHM_{(1)}$ denotes full width at half maximum of the pulse in energy channel 1. To get insights into features of the RSLs, we investigate in detail all the correlations between them and other parameters with a sub-sample including nine long bursts. The general cross-correlation technique is adopted to measure the lags between two different energy bands. We can derive the below conclusions. Firstly, the distribution of RSLs is normal and oncentrates on around the value of 0.1. Secondly, the RSLs are weakly correlated with $FWHM$, asymmetry, peak flux ($F_{p}$), peak energy ($E_{p}$) and spectral indexes ($α$ and $β$), while they are uncorrelated with $τ_{31}$, hardness-ratio ($HR_{31}$) and peak time ($t_m$). The final but important discovery is that redshift ($z$) and peak luminosity ($L_{p}$) are strongly correlated with the RSLs which can be measured easily and directly. We find that the RSL is a good redshift and peak luminosity estimator.

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arXiv2005

Method of determining cosmological parameter ranges with samples of candles with an intrinsic distribution

In this paper, the effect of the intrinsic distribution of cosmological candles is investigated. We find that, in the case of a narrow distribution, the deviation of the observed modulus of sources from the expected central value could be estimated within a ceratin range. We thus introduce a lower and upper limits of $χ^{2}$, $χ_{\min}^{2}$ and $ χ_{\max}^{2}$, to estimate cosmological parameters by applying the conventional minimizing $χ^{2}$ method. We apply this method to a gamma-ray burst (GRB) sample as well as to a combined sample including this GRB sample and an SN Ia sample. Our analysis shows that: a) in the case of assuming an intrinsic distribution of candles of the GRB sample, the effect of the distribution is obvious and should not be neglected; b) taking into account this effect would lead to a poorer constraint of the cosmological parameter ranges. The analysis suggests that in the attempt of constraining the cosmological model with current GRB samples, the results tend to be worse than what previously thought if the mentioned intrinsic distribution does exist.

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arXiv2005

Relationship between the rise width and the full width of gamma-ray burst pulses and its implications in terms of the fireball model

Kocevski et al. (2003) found that there is a linear relation between the rise width and the full width of gamma-ray burst pulses detected by the BATSE instrument based on their empirical functions. Motivated by this, we investigate the relationship based on Qin et al. (2004) model. Theoretical analysis shows that each of the two quantities, the rise width and the full width of observed pulse, is proportional to $Γ^{-2}Δτ_{θ,\rm FWHM}\frac{R_c}{c}$, where $Γ$ is the Lorentz factor for the bulk motion, $Δτ_{θ,\rm FWHM}$ is a local pulse's width, $R_{c}$ is the radius of fireballs and c is the velocity of light. We employ the observed pulses coming from four samples to study the relationship and find that: (1) Merely the curvature effect could produce the relationship with the same slope as those derived from Qin et al. (2004) model in the rise width vs. the full width panel. (2) Gamma-ray burst pulses, long or short ones (selected from the short and long GRBs), follow the same sequence in the rise width vs. the full width panel, with the shorter pulses at the end of this sequence. (3) All GRBs may intrinsically result from local Gaussian pulses. These features place constraints on the physical mechanism(s) for producing long and short GRBs.

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arXiv2005

Characteristics of the curvature effect of uniform jets or spherical fireballs

Qin et al. (2004) have derived a formula of count rates based on a model of highly symmetric expanding fireballs, where the Doppler effect is the key factor to be concerned. In this paper, we employ the formula to both the Qin model and the uniform jet model to study how the rising timescale, $Δτ_{θ,r}$, and the decay timescale, $Δτ_{θ,d}$, of a local pulse affect the light curve of GRBs. Our analysis shows that they do make contributions to both rising and decay portions of the light curve of GRBs. Associated with a local pulse with both rising and decay portions, the light curve of GRBs in the rising portion is expected to undergo a concave phase and then a convex one, which we call a "concave-to-convex" character, whereas that in the decay portion is expected to evolve an opposite process which is called a "convex-to-concave" character, regardless of being in Qin model or in the uniform jet model. These characteristics are independent of local pulse shapes and their rest frame radiation forms. The diversity of light curves are caused by different forms of local pulses and different ratios of $Δτ_{θ,r}$ to $Δτ_{θ,d}$. We study a sample of 86 GRB pulses detected by the BATSE instrument on board the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and find that the "concave-to-convex" (expected in the rising portion of the light curve) and "convex-to-concave" (expected in the decay portion) characters, which result from the curvature effect of spherical surface (or the Doppler effect), do exist in the light curve of some GRBs.

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