Kunihito Ioka

Gamma-Ray Burst Formation Rate Inferred from the Spectral Peak Energy-Peak Luminosity Relation

We estimate a gamma-ray burst (GRB) formation rate based on the new relation between the spectral peak energy (Ep) and the peak luminosity. The new relation is derived by combining the data of Ep and the peak luminosities by BeppoSAX and BATSE, and it looks considerably tighter and more reliable than the relations suggested by the previous works. Using the new Ep-luminosity relation, we estimate redshifts of the 689 GRBs without known distances in the BATSE catalog and derive a GRB formation rate as a function of the redshift. For the redshift range of 0 ≤ z ≤ 2, the GRB formation rate increases and is well correlated with the star formation rate, while it keeps constant toward z ~ 12. We also discuss the luminosity function and the redshift dependence of the intrinsic luminosity (luminosity evolution).

TeV–PeV Neutrinos from Low-Power Gamma-Ray Burst Jets inside Stars

We study high-energy neutrino production in collimated jets inside progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and supernovae, considering both collimation and internal shocks. We obtain simple, useful constraints, using the often overlooked point that shock acceleration of particles is ineffective at radiation-mediated shocks. Classical GRBs may be too powerful to produce high-energy neutrinos inside stars, which is consistent with IceCube nondetections. We find that ultralong GRBs avoid such constraints and detecting the TeV signal will support giant progenitors. Predictions for low-power GRB classes including low-luminosity GRBs can be consistent with the astrophysical neutrino background IceCube may detect, with a spectral steepening around PeV. The models can be tested with future GRB monitors.

Variabilities of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows: Long-acting Engine, Anisotropic Jet, or Many Fluctuating Regions?

We show that simple kinematic arguments can give limits on the timescale and amplitude of variabilities in gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows, especially when the variability timescale is shorter than the observed time since the burst, ?t < t. These limits help us to identify the sources of afterglow variability. The afterglows of GRB 011211 and GRB 021004 marginally violate these limits. If such violation is confirmed by the Swift satellite, a possible explanation is that (1) the compact objects that power GRB jets continue to eject an intermittent outflow for a very long timescale (1?day), (2) the GRB jet from the central engine has a temporal anisotropy with a large brightness contrast 10 and small angular structure 10-2, or (3) many (103) regions fluctuate simultaneously in the emitting site.

High-energy cosmic-ray nuclei from high- and low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts and implications for multimessenger astronomy

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are one of the candidates of ultrahigh-energy (

Peak Luminosity-Spectral Lag Relation Caused by the Viewing Angle of the Collimated Gamma-Ray Bursts

\ensuremath{\gtrsim}{10}^{18.5}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}

High-Energy Neutrinos and Cosmic Rays from Low-Luminosity Gamma-Ray Bursts?

) cosmic-ray (UHECR) sources. We investigate high-energy cosmic-ray acceleration including heavy nuclei in GRBs by using Geant 4, and discuss its various implications, taking both high-luminosity (HL) and low-luminosity (LL) GRBs into account. This is because LL GRBs may also make a significant contribution to the observed UHECR flux if they form a distinct population. We show that not only protons, but also heavier nuclei can be accelerated up to ultrahigh energies in the internal, (external) reverse, and forward shock models. We also show that the condition for ultrahigh-energy heavy nuclei such as iron to survive is almost the same as that for

The Cosmic Dispersion Measure from Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows: Probing the Reionization History and the Burst Environment

\ensuremath{\sim}\mathrm{TeV}

Populations III.1 and III.2 gamma-ray bursts: constraints on the event rate for future radio and X-ray surveys

gamma rays to escape from the source and for high-energy neutrinos not to be much produced. The multimessenger astronomy by neutrino and GeV-TeV gamma-ray telescopes such as IceCube and KM3Net, GLAST and MAGIC will be important to see whether GRBs can be accelerators of ultrahigh-energy heavy nuclei. We also demonstrate expected spectra of high-energy neutrinos and gamma rays, and discuss their detectabilities. In addition, we discuss implications of the GRB-UHECR hypothesis. We point out, since the number densities of HL GRBs and LL GRBs are quite different, its determination by UHECR observations is also important.

Cosmological Fast Radio Bursts from Binary White Dwarf Mergers

We compute the kinematical dependence of the peak luminosity, the pulse width, and the spectral lag of the peak luminosity on the viewing angle θv of a jet. For appropriate model parameters we obtain a peak luminosity-spectral lag relation similar to the observed one including gamma-ray burst (GRB) 980425. A bright (dim) peak with short (long) spectral lag corresponds to a jet with small (large) viewing angle. This suggests that the viewing angle of the jet might cause various relations in GRBs such as the peak luminosity-variability relation and the luminosity-width relation. Our model also suggests that X-ray-rich GRBs (or X-ray flushes or fast X-ray transients) are typical GRBs observed from large θv with large spectral lag and low variability.

Is the PAMELA anomaly caused by supernova explosions near the Earth

The recently discovered gamma-ray burst (GRB) 060218/SN 2006aj is classified as an X-ray Flash with very long duration driven possibly by a neutron star. Since GRB 060218 is very near {approx} 140 Mpc and very dim, one-year observation by Swift suggests that the true rate of GRB 060218-like events might be very high so that such low luminosity GRBs (LL-GRBs) might form a different population of GRBs from the cosmological high luminosity GRBs (HL-GRBs). We found that the high energy neutrino background from such LL-GRBs could be comparable with or larger than that from HL-GRBs. If each neutrino event is detected by IceCube, later optical-infrared follow-up observations such as by Subaru could identify a Type Ibc supernova associated with LL-GRBs, even if gamma- and X-rays are not observed by Swift. This is in a sense a new window from neutrino astronomy, which might enable us to confirm the existence of LL-GRBs and to obtain information about their rate and origin. We also argue LL-GRBs as high energy gamma-ray and cosmic-ray sources.