Swift observations of GRB 050712

We present the results of X-ray and optical observations of GRB 050712 performed by Swift . The X-ray light curve of this burst exhibits episodes of flares in the first 1000 s, the same epoch at which the UVOT detected an optical counterpart. A shallow X-ray decay, with a decay slope of  α=−0.73  , followed and lasted ∼70 ks. This behaviour can be explained in terms of activity of the gamma-ray burst 'inner engine', with the possibility that the last flare is caused by the interaction of the ejecta with the surrounding medium.
We also find interesting spectral parameters for the X-ray emission. In particular, data suggest the presence of an intrinsic absorption in the first 1000 s, which can be explained if circumburst medium clouds lie along the line of sight.     

Optical observations of GRB 050401 afterglow : a case for double-jet model

The afterglow of GRB 050401 presents several novel and interesting features. (i) An initially faster decay in optical band than in X-rays. (ii) A break in the X-ray light curve after ∼0.06 d with an unusual slope after the break. (iii)The X-ray afterglow does not show any spectral evolution across the break while the R -band light curve does not show any break. We have modelled the observed multiband evolution of the afterglow of GRB 050401 as originating in a two-component jet, and interpreting the break in X-ray light curve as due to lateral expansion of a narrow collimated outflow which dominates the X-ray emission. The optical emission is attributed to a wider jet component. Our model reproduces all the observed features of multiband afterglow of GRB 050401. We present optical observations of GRB 050401 using the 104-cm Sampurnanand Telescope at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital. Results of the analysis of multiband data are presented and compared with GRB 030329, the first reported case of double jet.     

Jet breaks at the end of the slow decline phase of Swift GRB light curves

The Swift mission has discovered an intriguing feature of gamma-ray burst (GRBs) afterglows, a phase of shallow decline of the flux in the X-ray and optical light curves. This behaviour is typically attributed to energy injection into the burst ejecta. At some point this phase ends, resulting in a break in the light curve, which is commonly interpreted as the cessation of the energy injection. In a few cases, however, while breaks in the X-ray light curve are observed, optical emission continues its slow flux decline. This behaviour suggests a more complex scenario. In this paper, we present a model that invokes a double component outflow, in which narrowly collimated ejecta are responsible for the X-ray emission while a broad outflow is responsible for the optical emission. The narrow component can produce a jet break in the X-ray light curve at relatively early times, while the optical emission does not break due to its lower degree of collimation. In our model both components are subject to energy injection for the whole duration of the follow-up observations. We apply this model to GRBs with chromatic breaks, and we show how it might change the interpretation of the GRBs canonical light curve. We also study our model from a theoretical point of view, investigating the possible configurations of frequencies and the values of GRB physical parameters allowed in our model.     

GRB 990123: reverse and internal shock flashes and late afterglow behaviour

The prompt ( t ≲0.16 d) light curve and initial 9th-magnitude optical flash from GRB 990123 can be attributed to a reverse external shock, or possibly to internal shocks. We discuss the time decay laws and spectral slopes expected under various dynamical regimes, and the constraints imposed on the model by the observations, arguing that they provide strongly suggestive evidence for features beyond those in the simple standard model. The longer term afterglow behaviour is discussed in the context of the forward shock, and it is argued that, if the steepening after 3 d is due to a jet geometry, this is likely to be a result of jet-edge effects, rather than sideways expansion.     

A possible explanation for the radio afterglow of GRB 980519: the dense medium effect

GRB 980519 is characterized by its rapidly declining optical and X-ray afterglows. Explanations of this behaviour include models invoking a dense medium environment, which makes the shock wave evolve quickly into the subrelativistic phase, a jet-like outflow, and a wind-shaped circumburst medium environment. Recently, Frail et al. found that the latter two cases are consistent with the radio afterglow of this burst. Here, by considering the transrelativistic shock hydrodynamics, we show that the dense medium model can also account for the radio light curve quite well. The potential virtue of the dense medium model for GRB 980519 is that it implies a smaller angular size of the afterglow, which is essential for interpreting the strong modulation of the radio light curve. Optical extinction arising from the dense medium is not important if the prompt optical–UV flash accompanying the γ -ray emission can destroy dust by sublimation out to an appreciable distance. Comparisons with some other radio afterglows are also discussed.     

The evolution of a beamed gamma-ray-burst afterglow: the non-relativistic case

There has been increasing evidence that at least some gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are emission beamed. The beamed GRB-afterglow evolution has been discussed by several authors in the ultrarelativistic case. It has been shown that the dynamics of the blast wave will be significantly modified by the sideways expansion, and there may be a sharp break in the afterglow light curves under certain circumstances. However, this is only true when the fireball is still relativistic. Here we present an analytical approach to the evolution of the beamed GRB blast wave expanding in the surrounding medium (density     in the non-relativistic case, our purpose is to explore whether the sideways expansion will strongly affect the blast-wave evolution as in the relativistic case. We find that the blast-wave evolution is strongly dependent on the speed of the sideways expansion. If it expands with the sound speed, then the jet angle θ increases with time as     which means that the sideways expansion has little effect on the afterglow light curves, the flux     for     and     for     It is clear that the light curve of     is not always steeper than that of     as in the relativistic case. We also show that if the expansion speed is a constant, then the jet angle     and the radius     in this case the sideways expansion has the most significant effect on the blast-wave evolution, the flux     independent of s , and we expect that there should be a smooth and gradual break in the light curve.     

Swift/BAT Observations of X-Ray Flashes

An analysis of prompt gamma-rays of X-ray flashes (XRFs) observed with the Swift/BAT has been presented. Our sample includes 235 bursts. It is found that the BAT detection ratio of XRFs to typical Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is 42:193, for division at Γ=2 (roughly corresponding Ep～50 keV), Γ being the power law index of the BAT spectrum and Ep, the peak energy (Ep) of the νfν spectrum. This is consistent with the HETE-2 observations. For both XRFS and GRBs Γ are almost normally distributed in the range of 1 to 2.8, similar that observed with HETE-2. The distribution of Γ for the entire set of GRBs/XRFs is not available due to poor statistics on the peak at Γ>2.3. This result probably indicates that the BAT spectrum of a typical XRF could have a Γ of roughly 2.3, if they indeed are a distinct soft component of the GRB population. By comparing the fluence and the peak flux in different energy bands, it is found that the XRFs are ordinarily softer than the GRBs, but during the peak time the spectra of both GRBs and XRF are similar, showing that the dominant radiation mechanisms of both GRBs and XRFs are similar.     

Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Swift Era

1 INTRODUCTION Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are fascinating celestial objects. These short, energetic bursts of gamma-rays mark the most violent, cataclysmic explosions in the universe, likely associated with the births of stellar- size black holes or rapidly spinning, highly magnetized neutron stars. Since the detections of their long- wavelength afterglows (Costa et al. 1997; van Paradijs et al. 1997; Frail et al. 1997), GRBs are observa- tionally accessible in essentially all electromagn…     

Comparison between Swift and pre-Swift gamma-ray bursts

The gamma-ray burst (GRB) mission Swift has made a much deeper GRBsurvey than any previous one. I present a systematical comparison between GRB samples detected with pre-Swift missions and those from Swift, in order to investigate whether they show any statistical difference. Our Swift GRB sample includes the bursts detected by Swift/BAT before 2007 September. With both flux-limited surveys and redshift-known GRB samples, I show that, apparently, the observed distributions of the redshifts, T90, and log N-log P are significantly different, but not for the spectral hardness ratio, fluence and Eiso. The redshifts of the Swift GRB sample are statistically larger than those of pre-Swift GRBs, with a mean of 1.95±0.17 compared to ～ 1 for pre-Swift GRBs. The cosmological effect on the observables is thus considerable. This effect on the spectral hardness ratio, fluence and Eiso is cancelled out, and the distributions of these quantities indeed do not show significant differences between the Swift and pre-Swift GRBs. Taking this effect into account, I found that the corrected distributions of T90 for long GRBs and log N - log P observed with Swift/BAT are also consistent with those observed with CGRO/BATSE. These results indicate that the Swift and pre-Swift GRBs are from the same population.     

Evidence for energy injection and a fine-tuned central engine at optical wavelengths in GRB 070419A

We present a comprehensive multiwavelength temporal and spectral analysis of the 'fast rise exponential decay' GRB 070419A. The early-time emission in the γ-ray and X-ray bands can be explained by a central engine active for at least 250 s, while at late times the X-ray light curve displays a simple power-law decay. In contrast, the observed behaviour in the optical band is complex (from 10² up to 10⁶ s). We investigate the light-curve behaviour in the context of the standard forward/reverse shock model; associating the peak in the optical light curve at ∼450 s with the fireball deceleration time results in a Lorenz factor  Γ≈ 350  at this time. In contrast, the shallow optical decay between 450 and 1500 s remains problematic, requiring a reverse shock component whose typical frequency is above the optical band at the optical peak time for it to be explained within the standard model. This predicts an increasing flux density for the forward shock component until   t ∼ 4 × 10⁶ s  , inconsistent with the observed decay of the optical emission from   t ∼ 10⁴ s  . A highly magnetized fireball is also ruled out due to unrealistic microphysic parameters and predicted light-curve behaviour that is not observed. We conclude that a long-lived central engine with a finely tuned energy injection rate and a sudden cessation of the injection is required to create the observed light curves, consistent with the same conditions that are invoked to explain the plateau phase of canonical X-ray light curves of γ-ray bursts.     

A statistical study of gamma-ray burst afterglows measured by the Swift Ultraviolet Optical Telescope

We present the first statistical analysis of 27 Ultraviolet Optical Telescope (UVOT) optical/ultraviolet light curves of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows. We have found, through analysis of the light curves in the observer's frame, that a significant fraction rise in the first 500 s after the GRB trigger, all light curves decay after 500 s, typically as a power law with a relatively narrow distribution of decay indices, and the brightest optical afterglows tend to decay the quickest. We find that the rise could be either produced physically by the start of the forward shock, when the jet begins to plough into the external medium, or geometrically where an off-axis observer sees a rising light curve as an increasing amount of emission enters the observers line of sight, which occurs as the jet slows. We find that at 99.8 per cent confidence, there is a correlation, in the observed frame, between the apparent magnitude of the light curves at 400 s and the rate of decay after 500 s. However, in the rest frame, a Spearman rank test shows only a weak correlation of low statistical significance between luminosity and decay rate. A correlation should be expected if the afterglows were produced by off-axis jets, suggesting that the jet is viewed from within the half-opening angle θ or within a core of a uniform energy density  θ_c  . We also produced logarithmic luminosity distributions for three rest-frame epochs. We find no evidence for bimodality in any of the distributions. Finally, we compare our sample of UVOT light curves with the X-ray Telescope (XRT) light-curve canonical model. The range in decay indices seen in UVOT light curves at any epoch is most similar to the range in decay of the shallow decay segment of the XRT canonical model. However, in the XRT canonical model, there is no indication of the rising behaviour observed in the UVOT light curves.     

Multiple regression of GRB luminosity on light-curve properties

Statistical relations between the luminosity L of gamma-ray burster (GRBs) and several of their other observable properties have been discovered. Four of these properties are considered here: the spectral lag; a measure of the light-curve variability; peak energy and the minimum light-curve rise time. Data are taken from a tabulation by Schaefer. Log–log regression of L on various combinations of the four light-curve properties, as well as redshift, is considered, using conventional multiple linear regression, and multiple errors-in-variables regression. Several cases are found in which the regression coefficients of more than one luminosity indicators are significant. In particular, the simultaneous regression of luminosity on peak energy, spectral lag, minimum rise time and redshift is meaningful.     

Hydrodynamic Evolution of GRB Afterglow

1 INTRODUCTIONMom the detection at X-rap optical and radio wavelengths of ganuna-ray bursts (GRBs)since 1997 (Costa et al. 1997; van Paradijs et al. 1997; Sahu et al. 1997; Djorgovsld et al. 1997;Metzger et al. 1997; Frail et al. 1997; Taylor et al. 1997; Kulforni et al. 1998; Halpern et al.1998; Castro-Tirado et al. 1999; Kulkalni et al. 1999; Galama et al. 1999), we have come toknow that the GRBs can release 1051 ~ 1054 ergs in a few seconds and that the fireball modelcan describ…