arXiv subjects

Zong-Kai Peng

Publications and source records attributed to Zong-Kai Peng.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A lanthanide-rich kilonova in the aftermath of a long gamma-ray burst

Observationally, Kilonovae are astrophysical transients powered by the radioactive decay of nuclei heavier than iron, synthesized in the merger of two compact objects. Over the first few days, the kilonova evolution is dominated by a large number of radioactive isotopes contributing to the heating rate. On timescales of weeks to months, its behavior is predicted to differ depending on the ejecta composition and merger remnant. Previous work has shown that the kilonova associated with gamma-ray burst 230307A is similar to kilonova AT2017gfo, and mid-infrared spectra revealed an emission line at 2.15 micrometres that was attributed to tellurium. Here we report a multi-wavelength analysis, including publicly available James Webb Space Telescope data and our own Hubble Space Telescope data, for the same gamma-ray burst. We model its evolution up to two months after the burst and show that, at these late times, the recession of the photospheric radius and the rapidly-decaying bolometric luminosity ($L_{\rm bol}\propto t^{-2.7\pm 0.4}$) support the recombination of lanthanide-rich ejecta as they cool.

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arXiv2024

GRBs from Collapse of Thorne-Żytkow-like Objects as the Aftermath of WD-NS Coalescence

The Type II gamma-ray burst (GRB) 200826A challenges collapsar models by questioning how they can generate a genuinely short-duration event. The other Type I GRB 211211A confused us with a kilonova signature observed in the afterglow of a \textit{long} burst. Here, we propose a comprehensive model in which both bursts are the results of the collapse of Thorne-Żytkow-like Objects (TZlOs). The TZlO consists of a central neutron star (NS), with a dense white dwarf (WD) material envelope, which is formed as the aftermath of a WD-NS coalescence. We find that the characteristics of the resultant GRBs depend on whether the TZlO collapses immediately following the WD-NS merger or not. Additionally, the observational properties of the consequent GRBs manifest variations contingent upon whether the collapse of the TZlO results in a magnetar or a black hole. We also show that our model is consistent with the observations of GRB 211211A and GRB 200826A. Specifically, the optical excess in GRB 211211A can be attributed to an engine-fed kilonova, while the \textit{supernova bump} in GRB 200826A is likely due to the collision between the ejecta and the disk wind shell.

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arXiv2023

GRB 221009A: An ordinary nearby GRB with extraordinary observational properties

The gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A, known as the ``brightest-of-all-time" (BOAT), is the closest energetic burst detected so far, with an energy of $E_{γ,\rm iso} \sim 10^{55}$ ergs. This study aims to assess its compatibility with known GRB energy and luminosity distributions. Our analysis indicates that the energy/luminosity function of GRBs is consistent across various redshift intervals, and that the inclusion of GRB 221009A does not significantly impact the function at low redshifts. Additionally, our evaluation of the best-fitting result of the entire GRB sample suggests that the expected number of GRBs with energy greater than $10^{55}$ ergs at a low redshift is 0.2, so that the emergence of GRB 221009A is consistent with expected energy/luminosity functions within $\sim 2σ$ Poisson fluctuation error, still adhering to the principles of small number statistics. Furthermore, we find that GRB 221009A and other energetic bursts, defined as $E_{γ,\rm iso} \gtrsim10^{54} {\rm ergs}$, exhibit no significant differences in terms of distributions of $T_{90}$, minimum timescale, Amati relation, $E_{\rm γ,iso}$-$E_{\rm X,iso}$ relation, $L_{γ,\rm iso}-Γ_0$ relation, $E_{γ,\rm iso}-Γ_0$ relation, $L_{γ,\rm iso}-E_{\rm p,i}-Γ_0$ relation, and host galaxy properties, compared to normal long GRBs. This suggests that energetic GRBs (including GRB 221009A) and other long GRBs likely have similar progenitor systems and undergo similar energy dissipation and radiation processes. The generation of energetic GRBs may be due to more extreme central engine properties or, more likely, a rarer viewing configuration of a quasi-universal structured jet.

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arXiv2020

Stringent Search for Precursor Emission in Short GRBs from Fermi/GBM data and Physical Implications

We perform a stringent search for precursor emission of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) from the Fermi/GBM data and find 16 precursor events with $\gtrsim4.5σ$ significance. We find that the durations of the main SGRB emission ($T_{\rm GRB}$) and the precursor emission ($T_{\rm pre}$), as well as the waiting time ($T_{\rm wt}$) in between, are roughly comparable to each other, with $T_{\rm wt}\approx2.8T_{\rm GRB}^{1.2}$ approximately satisfied for most cases except one significant outlier. We also perform spectral analyses to the precursors and SGRBs, and find that the spectra of precursor emission can be fitted with the blackbody, non-thermal cutoff power law and/or power law models. We consider several possible models for precursor emission in SGRBs and find that the luminosity and spectral shape may be explained by the the shock breakout or the photospheric radiation of a fireball launched after the merger for thermal precursors, or magnetospheric interaction between two NSs prior to the merger for non-thermal precursors. For the fireball photospheric model, a matter-dominated jet is preferred and a constraint on the fireball Lorentz factor can be placed as $Γ\sim30$. For the magnetospheric interaction model, jet launching mechanism may be constrained. In particular, those events with $T_{\rm wt}/T_{\rm GRB}\gg1$ (e.g. GRB191221802) require the formation of a supramassive or stable neutron star after the merger, with the delay time defined by the timescale for an initially baryon-loaded jet to become magnetically dominated and relativistic.

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arXiv2020

Evidence for gravitational-wave dominated emission in the central engine of short GRB 200219A

GRB 200219A is a short gamma-ray burst (GRB) with an extended emission (EE) lasting $\sim 90$s. By analyzing data observed with the {\em Swift}/BAT and {\em Fermi}/GBM, we find that a cutoff power-law model can adequately fit the spectra of the initial short pulse with $\rm E_{p}=1387^{+232}_{-134}$ keV. More interestingly, together with the EE component and early X-ray data, it exhibits plateau emission smoothly connected with a $\sim t^{-1}$ segment and followed by an extremely steep decay. The short GRB composed of those three segments is unique in the {\em Swift} era and is very difficult to explain with the standard internal/external shock model of a black hole central engine, but could be consistent with the prediction of a magnetar central engine from the merger of an NS binary. We suggest that the plateau emission followed by a $\sim t^{-1}$ decay phase is powered by the spin-down of a millisecond magnetar, which loses its rotation energy via GW quadrupole radiation. Then, the abrupt drop decay is caused by the magnetar collapsing into a black hole before switching to EM-dominated emission. This is the first short GRB for which the X-ray emission has such an intriguing feature powered by a magnetar via GW-dominated radiation. If this is the case, one can estimate the physical parameters of a magnetar, the GW signal powered by a magnetar and the merger-nova emission are also discussed.

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arXiv2019

CDF-S XT1 and XT2: White Dwarf Tidal Disruption Events by Intermediate-Mass Black Holes?

Recently two fast X-ray transients (XT1 and XT2) have been reported from the search in the Chandra Deep Field (CDF) data. Each transient shows an initial plateau lasting around hundreds to thousands seconds followed by a rapid decay in the light curve. In particular, CDF-S XT2 is found to be associated with a galaxy at redshift z= 0.738 and was explained as a counterpart of a binary neutron-star merger event. In this paper, motivated by the short duration and decay slopes of the two transients, we consider an alternative interpretation in which both events are accretion-driven flares from tidal disruption of white dwarfs by intermediate-mass black holes. We derive a theoretical model of the accretion rate history, and find that it fits the observed X-ray light curves well. The extremely super-Eddington peak luminosity of XT2 can be explained by the beaming effect of the system, likely in the form of a jet.

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arXiv2018

The Prompt Emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts from the Wind of Newborn Millisecond Magnetars: A Case Study of GRB 160804A

In this paper, we revisit the scenario that an internal gradual magnetic dissipation takes place within the wind from a newborn millisecond magnetar can be responsible for gamma-ray burst production. We show that a combination of two emission components in this model, i.e., the photospheric emission from the wind and the synchrotron radiation within the magnetic reconnection region, can give a reasonable fit to the observed spectrum of the prompt emission phase of GRB 160804A. We obtain the physical parameters through a Monte Carlo procedure and deduce the initial spin period and magnetic field of the central magnetar. Furthermore, the independent afterglow fitting analysis gives a consistent result, adding great credibility to this scenario. In addition, we predict a subclass of GRBs called bursts from such a Magnetar wind Internal Gradual MAgnetic Dissipation (abbreviated as "MIGMAD bursts") that have several distinctive properties.

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arXiv2018

Constraining the Environmental Properties of FRB 131104 Using the Unified Dynamical Afterglow Model

Multi-band observations of the fast radio burst (FRB) 131104 show that this burst may be associated with a gamma-ray transient entitled Swift J0644.5-5111. Follow-up observations for potential X-ray and radio counterparts of FRB 131104/Swift J0644.5-5111 got null results and provided the upper limits of the emission flux at 5.5 GHz, 7.5 GHz, $U$-band, and X-ray band. By assuming this association and using these upper limits, environmental properties (the fraction of energyin a magnetic field $\varepsilon_{\rm B}$ and the number density $n$) of the progenitor system of FRB 131104/Swift J0644.5-5111 were constrained in the context of the standard afterglow model that neglects the non-relativistic effect and jet effect by several groups. In this paper, we adopt a unified afterglow model that takes into account the non-relativistic effect and jet effect and use the upper limits of four bands (5.5 GHz, 7.5 GHz, $U$-band, and X-ray) to obtain more stringent constraints on the parameter space spanned by $\varepsilon_{\rm B}$ and $n$. We thus suggest that FRB 131104/Swift J0644.5-5111 might originate from a black hole-neutron star merger event. Moreover, we calculate multi-band emissions from a kilonova powered by the radioactivity of $r$-process elements synthesized in the ejected neutron-rich material and find that the $U$-band emission from the putative kilonova is significantly lower than the upper limit of the observations.

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arXiv2017

A Monte Carlo Approach to Magnetar-powered Transients: I. Hydrogen-deficient Superluminous Supernovae

In this paper we collect 19 hydrogen-deficient superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) and fit their light curves, temperature evolution, and velocity evolution based on the magnetar-powered model. To obtain the best-fitting parameters, we incorporate the Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach. We get rather good fits for 7 events ($χ^2$/d.o.f = $0.24-0.96$) and good fits for other 7 events ($χ^2$/d.o.f = $1.37-3.13$). We find that the initial periods ($P_{0}$) and magnetic strength ($B_{p}$) of the magnetars supposed to power these SLSNe are in the range of $\sim 1.2-8.3$ ms and $\sim (0.2-8.8)\times 10^{14}\,$G, respectively; the inferred masses of the ejecta of these SLSNe are between 1 and 27.6 $M_{\odot }$, and the values of the gamma-ray opacity $κ_{γ}$ are between 0.01 and 0.82 cm$^2$ ~g$^{-1}$. We also calculate the fraction of the initial rotational energy of the magnetars harbored in the centers of the remnants of these SLSNe that is converted to the kinetic energy of the ejecta and find that the fraction is $\sim 19-97$ for different values of $P_{0}$ and $B_{p}$, indicating that the acceleration effect cannot be neglected. Moreover, we find that the initial kinetic energies of most of these SLSNe are so small ($\lesssim 2\times 10^{51}$ erg) that they can be easily explained by the neutrino-driven mechanism. These results can help clarify some important issues related to the energy-source mechanisms and explosion mechanisms and reveal the nature of SLSNe.

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