arXiv subjects

T. Piran

Publications and source records attributed to T. Piran.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Magnetic field decay in neutron stars: from Soft Gamma Repeaters to "weak field magnetars"

The recent discovery of the "weak field, old magnetar", the soft gamma repeater SGR 0418+5729, whose dipole magnetic field is less than 7.5 \times 10^{12} G, has raised perplexing questions: How can the neutron star produce SGR-like bursts with such a low magnetic field? What powers the observed X-ray emission when neither the rotational energy nor the magnetic dipole energy are sufficient? These observations, that suggest either a much larger energy reservoir or a much younger true age (or both), have renewed the interest in the evolutionary sequence of magnetars. We examine, here, a phenomenological model for the magnetic field decay: B_dip} \propto (B_dip)^{1+a} and compare its predictions with the observed period, P,the period derivative, \dot{P}, and the X-ray luminosity, L_X, of magnetar candidates. We find a strong evidence for a dipole field decay on a timescale of \sim 10^3 yr for the strongest (\sim 10^{15} G) field objects, with a decay index within the range 1 \leq a < 2 and more likely within 1.5\lesssim a \lesssim 1.8. The decaying field implies a younger age than what is implied by the spinown age. Surprisingly, even with the younger age, the energy released in the dipole field decay is insufficient to power the X-ray emission, suggesting the existence of a stronger internal field, B_int. Examining several models for the internal magnetic field decay we find that it must have a very large (> 10^{16} G) initial value. Our findings suggest two clear distinct evolutionary tracks -- the SGR/AXP branch and the transient branch, with a possible third branch involving high-field radio pulsars that age into low luminosity X-ray dim isolated neutron stars.

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arXiv2011

Fermi and Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Population Studies

The new and extreme population of GRBs detected by Fermi-LAT shows several new features in high energy gamma-rays that are providing interesting and unexpected clues into GRB prompt and afterglow emission mechanisms. Over the last 6 years, it has been Swift that has provided the robust dataset of UV/optical and X-ray afterglow observations that opened many windows into components of GRB emission structure. The relationship between the LAT detected GRBs and the well studied, fainter, less energetic GRBs detected by Swift-BAT is only beginning to be explored by multi-wavelength studies. We explore the large sample of GRBs detected by BAT only, BAT and Fermi-GBM, and GBM and LAT, focusing on these samples separately in order to search for statistically significant differences between the populations, using only those GRBs with measured redshifts in order to physically characterize these objects. We disentangle which differences are instrumental selection effects versus intrinsic properties, in order to better understand the nature of the special characteristics of the LAT bursts.

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arXiv2011

Limits on the GeV Emission from Gamma-Ray Bursts

The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board of the Fermi satellite detected emission above 30 MeV only in a small fraction of the long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) at 8 keV - 10 MeV. Those bursts that were detected by the LAT were among the brightest GBM bursts. We examine a sample of the most luminous GBM bursts with no LAT detection and obtain upper limits on their high energy fluence. We find an average upper limit of LAT/GBM fluence ratio of 0.13 for GeV fluence during $T_{90}$ and an average upper limit ratio of 0.45 for GeV fluence during the first 600 seconds after the trigger. These ratios strongly constrain various emission models and in particular rule out SSC models for the prompt emission. In about a third of both LAT detected and LAT non-detected bursts, we find that the extrapolation of the MeV range Band spectrum to the GeV range is larger than the observed GeV fluence (or its upper limit). While this excess is not highly significant for any specific burst, the overall excess in a large fraction of the bursts suggests a decline in the high energy spectral slope in at least some of these bursts. Possibly an evidence for the long sought after pair creation limit.

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arXiv2009

The Collimation and Energetics of the Brightest Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts

Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are widely believed to be highly-collimated explosions (opening angle theta ~ 1-10 deg). As a result of this beaming factor, the true energy release from a GRB is usually several orders of magnitude smaller than the observed isotropic value. Measuring this opening angle, typically inferred from an achromatic steepening in the afterglow light curve (a "jet" break), has proven exceedingly difficult in the Swift era. Here we undertake a study of five of the brightest (in terms of the isotropic prompt gamma-ray energy release, E(gamma, iso)) GRBs in the Swift era to search for jet breaks and hence constrain the collimation-corrected energy release. We present multi-wavelength (radio through X-ray) observations of GRBs 050820A, 060418, and 080319B, and construct afterglow models to extract the opening angle and beaming-corrected energy release for all three events. Together with results from previous analyses of GRBs 050904 and 070125, we find evidence for an achromatic jet break in all five events, strongly supporting the canonical picture of GRBs as collimated explosions. The most natural explanation for the lack of observed jet breaks from most Swift GRBs is therefore selection effects. However, the opening angles for the events in our sample are larger than would be expected if all GRBs had a canonical energy release of ~ 10e51 erg. The total energy release we measure for those "hyper-energetic" (E(total) >~ 10e52 erg) events in our sample is large enough to start challenging models with a magnetar as the compact central remnant.

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arXiv2008

Clues from the prompt emission of GRB 080319B

The extremely bright optical flash that accompanied GRB 080319B suggested, at first glance, that the prompt $γ$-rays in this burst were produced by Synchrotron self Compton (SSC). We analyze here the observed optical and $γ$ spectrum. We find that the very strong optical emission poses, due to self absorption, very strong constraints on the emission processes and put the origin of the optical emission at a very large radius, almost inconsistent with internal shock. Alternatively it requires a very large random Lorentz factor for the electrons. We find that SSC could not have produced the prompt $γ$-rays. We also show that the optical emission and the $γ$ rays could not have been produced by synchrotron emission from two populations of electron within the same emitting region. Thus we must conclude that the optical and the $γ$-rays were produced in different physical regions. A possible interpretation of the observations is that the $γ$-rays arose from internal shocks but the optical flash resulted from external shock emission. This would have been consistent with the few seconds delay observed between the optical and $γ$-rays signals.

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arXiv2008

GRB 080319B: A Naked-Eye Stellar Blast from the Distant Universe

Long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) release copious amounts of energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and so provide a window into the process of black hole formation from the collapse of a massive star. Over the last forty years, our understanding of the GRB phenomenon has progressed dramatically; nevertheless, fortuitous circumstances occasionally arise that provide access to a regime not yet probed. GRB 080319B presented such an opportunity, with extraordinarily bright prompt optical emission that peaked at a visual magnitude of 5.3, making it briefly visible with the naked eye. It was captured in exquisite detail by wide-field telescopes, imaging the burst location from before the time of the explosion. The combination of these unique optical data with simultaneous gamma-ray observations provides powerful diagnostics of the detailed physics of this explosion within seconds of its formation. Here we show that the prompt optical and gamma-ray emissions from this event likely arise from different spectral components within the same physical region located at a large distance from the source, implying an extremely relativistic outflow. The chromatic behaviour of the broadband afterglow is consistent with viewing the GRB down the very narrow inner core of a two-component jet that is expanding into a wind-like environment consistent with the massive star origin of long GRBs. These circumstances can explain the extreme properties of this GRB.

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arXiv2007

GRB 060505: A possible short-duration gamma-ray burst in a star forming region at redshift of 0.09

On 2006 May 5, a four second duration, low energy, ~10^49 erg, Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) was observed, spatially associated with a z=0.0894 galaxy. Here, we report the discovery of the GRB optical afterglow and observations of its environment using Gemini-south, Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Chandra, Swift and the Very Large Array. The optical afterglow of this GRB is spatially associated with a prominent star forming region in the Sc-type galaxy 2dFGRS S173Z112. Its proximity to a star forming region suggests that the progenitor delay time, from birth to explosion, is smaller than about 10 Myr. Our HST deep imaging rules out the presence of a supernova brighter than an absolute magnitude of about -11 (or -12.6 in case of ``maximal'' extinction) at about two weeks after the burst, and limits the ejected mass of radioactive Nickel 56 to be less than about 2x10^-4 solar mass (assuming no extinction). Although it was suggested that GRB 060505 may belong to a new class of long-duration GRBs with no supernova, we argue that the simplest interpretation is that the physical mechanism responsible for this burst is the same as for short-duration GRBs.

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arXiv2006

Relativistic ejecta from XRF 060218 and the rate of cosmic explosions

Over the last decade, long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) including the subclass of X-ray flashes (XRFs) have been revealed to be a rare variety of Type Ibc supernova (SN). While all these events result from the death of massive stars, the electromagnetic luminosities of GRBs and XRFs exceed those of ordinary Type Ibc SNe by many orders of magnitude. The essential physical process that causes a dying star to produce a GRB or XRF, and not just an SN, remains the crucial open question. Here we present radio and X-ray observations of XRF 060218 (associated with SN 2006aj), the second nearest GRB identified to-date, which allow us to measure its total energy and place it in the larger context of cosmic explosions. We show that this event is 100 times less energetic but ten times more common than cosmological GRBs. Moreover, it is distinguished from ordinary Type Ibc SNe by the presence of 10^48 erg coupled to mildly-relativistic ejecta, along with a central engine (an accretion-fed, rapidly rotating compact source) which produces X-rays for weeks after the explosion. This suggests that the production of relativistic ejecta is the key physical distinction between GRBs/XRFs and ordinary SNe, while the nature of the central engine (black hole or magnetar) may distinguish typical bursts from low-luminosity, spherical events like XRF 060218.

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arXiv2006

The gamma-ray burst GRB060614 requires a novel explosive process

Over the past decade our physical understanding of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has progressed rapidly thanks to the discovery and observation of their long-lived afterglow emission. Long-duration (T < 2 s) GRBs are associated with the explosive deaths of massive stars (``collapsars''), which produce accompanying supernovae, while the short-duration (T > 2 s) GRBs arise from a different origin, which has been argued to be the merger of two compact objects, either neutron stars or black holes. Here we present observations of GRB060614, a 100-s long burst discovered by the Swift satellite, which require the invocation of a new explosive process: either a massive ``collapsar'' that powers a GRB without any associated supernova, or a new type of engine, as long-lived as the collapsar but without any such massive stellar host. We also discuss the properties of this burst's redshift z=0.125 host galaxy, which distinguish it from other long-duration GRBs and suggest that an entirely new type of GRB progenitor may be required.

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arXiv2006

Multi-Wavelength Observations of GRB 050820A: An Exceptionally Energetic Event Followed from Start to Finish

We present observations of the unusually bright and long gamma-ray burst GRB 050820A, one of the best-sampled broadband data sets in the Swift era. The gamma-ray light curve is marked by a soft precursor pulse some 200 s before the main event; the lack of any intervening emission suggests that it is due to a physical mechanism distinct from the GRB itself. The large time lag between the precursor and the main emission enabled simultaneous observations in the gamma-ray, X-ray, and optical band-passes, something only achieved for a handful of events to date. While the contemporaneous X-rays are the low-energy tail of the prompt emission, the optical does not directly track the gamma-ray flux. Instead, the early-time optical data appear mostly consistent with the forward shock synchrotron peak passing through the optical, and are therefore likely the beginning of the afterglow. On hour time scales after the burst, the X-ray and optical light curves are inconsistent with an adiabatic expansion of the shock into the surrounding region, but rather indicate that there is a period of energy injection. Observations at late times allow us to constrain the collimation angle of the relativistic outflow to theta = 6.8 - 9.3 degrees. Our estimates of both the kinetic energy of the afterglow and the prompt gamma-ray energy release make GRB 050820A one of the most energetic events for which such values could be determined.

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arXiv2005

The afterglow and elliptical host galaxy of the short gamma-ray burst GRB 050724

Despite a rich phenomenology, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are divided into two classes based on their duration and spectral hardness -- the long-soft and the short-hard bursts. The discovery of afterglow emission from long GRBs was a watershed event, pinpointing their origin to star forming galaxies, and hence the death of massive stars, and indicating an energy release of about 10^51 erg. While theoretical arguments suggest that short GRBs are produced in the coalescence of binary compact objects (neutron stars or black holes), the progenitors, energetics, and environments of these events remain elusive despite recent localizations. Here we report the discovery of the first radio afterglow from a short burst, GRB 050724, which unambiguously associates it with an elliptical galaxy at a redshift, z=0.257. We show that the burst is powered by the same relativistic fireball mechanism as long GRBs, with the ejecta possibly collimated in jets, but that the total energy release is 10-1000 times smaller. More importantly, the nature of the host galaxy demonstrates that short GRBs arise from an old (>1 Gyr) stellar population, strengthening earlier suggestions, and providing support for coalescing compact object binaries as the progenitors.

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arXiv2005

Reverse Shock Emission as a Probe of GRB Ejecta

We calculate the reverse shock (RS) synchrotron emission in the optical and the radio wavelength bands from electron-positron pair enriched gamma-ray burst ejecta with the goal of determining the pair content of GRBs using early time observations. We take into account an extensive number of physical effects that influence radiation from the reverse-shock heated GRB ejecta. We find that optical/IR flux depends very weakly on the number of pairs in the ejecta, and there is no unique signature of ejecta pair enrichment if observations are confined to a single wavelength band. It may be possible to determine if the number of pairs per proton in the ejecta is > 100 by using observations in optical and radio bands; the ratio of flux in the optical and radio at the peak of each respective reverse-shock light curve is dependent on the number of pairs per proton. We also find that over a large parameter space, RS emission is expected to be very weak; GRB 990123 seems to have been an exceptional burst in that only a very small fraction of the parameter space produces optical flashes this bright. Also, it is often the case that the optical flux from the forward shock is brighter than the reverse shock flux at deceleration. This could be another possible reason for the paucity of prompt optical flashes with a rapidly declining light curve at early times as was seen in 990123 and 021211. Some of these results are a generalization of similar results reported in Nakar & Piran (2004).

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arXiv2005

The afterglow of GRB050709 and the nature of the short-hard gamma-ray bursts

The final chapter in the long-standing mystery of the gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) centres on the origin of the short-hard class, suspected on theoretical grounds to result from the coalescence of neutron star or black hole binary systems. Numerous searches for the afterglows of short-hard bursts have been made, galvanized by the revolution in our understanding of long-duration GRBs that followed the discovery in 1997 of their broadband (X-ray, optical, and radio) afterglow emission. Here we present the discovery of the X-ray afterglow of a short-hard burst whose accurate position allows us to unambiguously associate it with a star-forming galaxy at redshift z=0.160, and whose optical lightcurve definitively excludes a supernova association. Together with results from three other recent short-hard bursts, this suggests that short-hard bursts release much less energy than the long-duration GRBs. Models requiring young stellar populations, such as magnetars and collapsars, are ruled out, while coalescing degenerate binaries remain the most promising progenitor candidates.

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arXiv2004

The Luminosity and Angular Distributions of Long GRBs

The realization that the total energy of GRBs is correlated with their jet break angles motivates the search for a similar relation between the peak luminosity, $L$, and the jet break angles, $L\proptoθ^{-2}$. Such a relation implies that the GRB luminosity function determines the angular distribution. We re-derive the GRB luminosity function using the BATSE peak flux distribution and compare the predicted distribution with the observed redshift distribution. The luminosity function can be approximated by a broken power law with a break peak luminosity of $4.4 \times 10^{51}$ erg/sec, a typical jet angle of 0.12 rad and a local GRB rate of $0.44 h_{65}^{3}$ Gpc$^{-3}$yr$^{-1}$. The angular distribution implied by $L\proptoθ^{-2}$ agrees well with the observed one, and implies a correction factor to the local rate due to beaming of $75\pm25$ (instead of 500 as commonly used). The inferred overall local GRB rate is $33\pm11 h_{65}^{3}$ Gpc$^{-3}$yr$^{-1}$. The luminosity function and angle distribution obtained within the universal structured jet model, where the angular distribution is essentially $\propto θ$ and hence the luminosity function must be $\propto L^{-2}$, deviate from the observations at low peak fluxes and, correspondingly, at large angles. The corresponding correction factor for the universal structure jet is $\sim 20 \pm 10$.

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arXiv2002

GRBs Light Curves - Another Clue on the Inner Engine

The nature of the `inner engine' that accelerate and collimate the relativistic flow at the cores of GRBs is the most interesting current puzzle concerning GRBs. Numerical simulations have shown that the internal shocks' light curve reflects the activity of this inner engine. Using a simple analytic toy model we clarify the relations between the observed $ γ$-rays light curve and the inner engine's activity and the dependence of the light curves on the inner engine's parameters. This simple model also explains the observed similarity between the observed distributions of pulses widths and the intervals between pulses and the correlation between the width of a pulse and the length of the preceding interval. Our analysis suggests that the variability in the wind's Lorentz factors arises due to a modulation of the mass injected into a constant energy flow.

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arXiv2001

Post Newtonian SPH

We introduce an adaptation of the well known Tree+SPH numerical scheme to Post Newtonian (PN) hydrodynamics and gravity. Our code solves the (0+1+2.5)PN equations. These equations include Newtonian hydrodynamics and gravity (0PN), the first order relativistic corrections to those (1PN) and the lowest order gravitational radiation terms (2.5PN). We test various aspects of our code using analytically solvable test problems. We then proceed to study the 1PN effects on binary neutron star coalescence by comparing calculations with and without the 1PN terms. We find that the effect of the 1PN terms is rather small. The largest effect arises with a stiff equation of state for which the maximum rest mass density increases. This could induce black hole formation. The gravitational wave luminosity is also affected.

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arXiv2001

New results on the temporal structure of GRBs

We analyze the temporal structure of long ((T_{90}>2sec)) and short ((T_{90}<2sec)) BATSE bursts. We find that: (i) In many short bursts (δt_{min}/T\ll 1) (where (δt_{min}) is the shortest pulse). This indicates that short bursts arise, like long ones, in internal shocks. (ii) In long bursts there is an excess of long intervals between pulses (relative to a lognormal distribution). This excess can be explained by the existence of \emph{quiescent times}, long periods with no signal above the background that arise, most likely, from periods with no source activity. The lognormal distribution of the intervals (excluding the \emph{quiescent times}) is similar and correlated with the distribution of the pulses width, in agreement with the predictions of the internal shock model.

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arXiv2000

Tidal Disruption of a Solar Type Star by a Super-Massive Black Hole

We study the long term evolution of a solar type star that is being disrupted by a super massive (10^6 solar mass) black hole. The evolution is followed from the disruption event, which turns the star into a long thin stream of gas, to the point where some of this gas returns to pericenter and begins its second orbit around the black hole. Following the evolution for this long allows us to determine the amount of mass that is accreted by the black hole. We find that approximately 75% of the returning mass is not accreted but instead becomes unbound, following the large compression characterizing the return to pericenter. The impact of a tidal disruption on the surrounding gas may therefore be like that of two consecutive supernove-type events.

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