Yi-Zhong Fan

A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF FERMI GAMMA-RAY BURST DATA. I. SPECTRAL COMPONENTS AND THE POSSIBLE PHYSICAL ORIGINS OF LAT/GBM GRBs

We present a systematic analysis of the spectral and temporal properties of 17 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) codetected by the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi satellite in 2010 May. We performed a time-resolved spectral analysis of all the bursts, with the finest temporal resolution allowed by statistics, to reduce temporal smearing of different spectral components. We found that the time-resolved spectra of 14 out of 17 GRBs are best modeled with the classical Band function over the entire Fermi spectral range, which may suggest a common origin for emissions detected by the LAT and GBM. GRB 090902B and GRB 090510 require the superposition of an MeV component and an extra power-law component, with the former having a sharp cutoff above Ep . For GRB 090902B, this MeV component becomes progressively narrower as the time bin gets smaller, and can be fit with a Planck function as the time bin becomes small enough. In general, we speculate that, phenomenologically, there may be three elemental spectral components that shape the time-resolved GRB spectra: a Band-function component (e.g., in GRB 080916C) that extends over a wide energy range and does not narrow with decreasing time bins, which may be of non-thermal origin; a quasi-thermal component (e.g., in GRB 090902B), with spectra progressively narrowing with reducing time bins; and another non-thermal power-law component extending to high energies. The spectra of different bursts may be decomposed into one or more of these elemental components. We compare this sample with the Burst and Transient Source Experiment sample and investigate some correlations among spectral parameters. We discuss the physical implications of the data analysis results for GRB prompt emission, including jet composition (matter-dominated versus Poynting-flux-dominated outflow), emission sites (internal shock, external shock, or photosphere), as well as radiation mechanisms (synchrotron, synchrotron self-Compton, or thermal Compton upscattering).

Gamma‐ray burst efficiency and possible physical processes shaping the early afterglow

The discovery by Swift that a good fraction of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have a slowly decaying X-ray afterglow phase led to the suggestion that energy injection into the blast wave takes place several hundred seconds after the burst. This implies that right after the burst the kinetic energy of the blast wave was very low and in turn the efficiency of production of gamma-rays during the burst was extremely high, rendering the internal shocks model unlikely. We re-examine the estimates of kinetic energy in GRB afterglows and show that the efficiency of converting the kinetic energy into gamma-rays is moderate and does not challenge the standard internal shock model. We also examine several models, including in particular energy injection, suggested to interpret this slow decay phase. We show that with proper parameters, all these models give rise to a slow decline lasting several hours. However, even those models that fit all X-ray observations, and in particular the energy injection model, cannot account self-consistently for both the X-ray and the optical afterglows of well-monitored GRBs such as GRB 050319 and GRB 050401. We speculate about a possible alternative resolution of this puzzle.

A possible macronova in the late afterglow of the long-short burst GRB 060614

Long-duration (>2 s) γ-ray bursts that are believed to originate from the death of massive stars are expected to be accompanied by supernovae. GRB 060614, that lasted 102 s, lacks a supernova-like emission down to very stringent limits and its physical origin is still debated. Here we report the discovery of near-infrared bump that is significantly above the regular decaying afterglow. This red bump is inconsistent with even the weakest known supernova. However, it can arise from a Li-Paczyński macronova—the radioactive decay of debris following a compact binary merger. If this interpretation is correct, GRB 060614 arose from a compact binary merger rather than from the death of a massive star and it was a site of a significant production of heavy r-process elements. The significant ejected mass favours a black hole–neutron star merger but a double neutron star merger cannot be ruled out.

GeV excess in the Milky Way: The role of diffuse galactic gamma-ray emission templates

Several groups have analyzed the publicly available Fermi-LAT data and have reported a spatially extended. ray excess of around 1-3 GeV from the region surrounding the Galactic center that might originate from annihilation of dark-matter particles with a rest mass m(chi) similar to 30-40 GeV. In this work we examine the role of the diffuse galactic gamma-ray emission templates played in suppressing the GeV excess. For such a purpose, we adopt in total 128 background templates that were generated by Ackermann et al. [Astrophys. J. 750, 3 (2012)] in the study of the Fermi-LAT observations of the diffuse gamma-ray emission considering the effects of cosmic rays and the interstellar medium. The possible GeV excess, assumed to follow the spatial distribution of the prompt gamma rays produced in the annihilation of dark-matter particles taking a generalized Navarro-Frenk-White profile with an inner slope alpha=1.2, has been analyzed in some regions of interest. The introduction of such an additional component centered at the Galactic center is found to have improved the goodness of fit to the data significantly in all background template models regardless of whether the excess spectrum is fixed or not. Our results thus suggest that the presence of a statistically significant GeV excess in the inner Galaxy is robust, though its spectrum depends on the diffuse galactic gamma-ray emission model adopted in the analysis. The possible physical origin of the GeV excess component is discussed and, in the dark-matter model, the annihilation cross section of such particles is evaluated.

The X-ray afterglow flat segment in short GRB 051221A: Energy injection from a millisecond magnetar?

The flat segment, lasting similar to 10(4) s, in the X-ray afterglow of GRB 051221A represents the first clear case of strong energy injection in the external shock of a short gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow. In this work, we show that a millisecond pulsar with a dipole magnetic field similar to 10(14) Gauss could well account for that energy injection. The good quality X-ray flat segment thus suggests that the central engine of this short burst may be a millisecond magnetar.

Optical Flash of GRB 990123: Constraints on the Physical Parameters of the Reverse Shock

The optical flash accompanying GRB 990123 is believed to be powered by the reverse shock of a thin shell. With the best-fit physical parameters for GRB 990123 and the assumption that the parameters in the optical flash are the same as in the afterglow, we show that: 1) the shell is thick rather than thin, and we have provided the light curve for the thick shell case which coincides with the observation; 2) the theoretical peak flux of the optical flash accounts for only 3◊10 4 of the observed. In order to remove this discrepancy, the physical parameters, the electron energy and magnetic ratios, e and B, should be 0.61 and 0.39, which are very dierent from their values for the late afterglow.

High-energy afterglow emission from gamma-ray bursts

We calculate the very high-energy (sub-GeV to TeV) inverse Compton emission of GRB afterglows. We argue that this emission provides a powerful test of the currently accepted afterglow model. We focus on two processes: synchrotron self-Compton emission within the afterglow blast wave, and external inverse Compton emission which occurs when flare photons (produced by an internal process) pass through the blast wave. We show that if our current interpretations of the Swift X-ray telescope (XRT) data are correct, there should be a canonical high-energy afterglow emission light curve. Our predictions can be tested with high-energy observatories such as GLAST, Whipple, HESS and MAGIC. Under favourable conditions we expect afterglow detections in all these detectors.

The possible high-energy emission from GRB 080319B and origins of the GeV emission of GRBs 080514B, 080916C and 081024B

We calculate the high-energy (sub-GeV to TeV) prompt and afterglow emission of GRB 080319B that was distinguished by a naked-eye optical flash and by an unusual strong early X-ray afterglow. There are three possible sources for high-energy emission: the prompt optical and gamma-ray photons IC scattered by the accelerated electrons, the prompt photons IC scattered by the early external reverse-forward shock electrons, and the higher band of the synchrotron and the synchrotron self-Compton emission of the external shock. There should have been in total hundreds of high-energy photons detectable for the Large Area Telescope onboard the Fermi satellite, and tens of photons of those with energy > 10 GeV. The > 10 GeV emission had a duration about twice that of the soft gamma-rays. Astro-rivelatore Gamma a Immagini Leggero (AGILE) could have observed these energetic signals if it was not occulted by the Earth at that moment. The physical origins of the high-energy emission detected in GRB 080514B, GRB 080916C and GRB 081024B are also discussed. These observations seem to be consistent with the current high-energy emission models.

Short-living supermassive magnetar model for the early X-ray flares following short GRBs

We suggest a short-lived supermassive magnetar model to account for the X-ray flares following short γ-ray bursts. In this model the central engine of the short γ-ray bursts is a supermassive millisecond magnetar, formed in coalescence of double neutron stars. The X-ray flares are powered by the dipole radiation of the magnetar. When the magnetar has lost a significant part of its angular momentum, it collapses to a black hole and the X-ray flares cease abruptly.

High Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from Gamma-Ray Bursts - Before GLAST

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are short and intense emission of soft γ-rays, which have fascinated astronomers and astrophysicists since their unexpected discovery in 1960s. The X-ray/optical/radio afterglow observations confirm the cosmological origin of GRBs, support the fireball model, and imply a long-activity of the central engine. The high-energy γ-ray emission (> 20 MeV) from GRBs is particularly important because they shed some lights on the radiation mechanisms and can help us to constrain the physical processes giving rise to the early afterglows. In this work, we review observational and theoretical studies of the high-energy emission from GRBs. Special attention is given to the expected high-energy emission signatures accompanying the canonical early-time X-ray afterglow that was observed by the Swift X-ray Telescope. We also discuss the detection prospect of the upcoming GLAST satellite and the current ground-based Cerenkov detectors.