Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2007-10-28
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
6 pages including 3 figures, accepted to MNRAS after revisions
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13043.x
Gamma-ray burst afterglow observations in the Swift era have a perceived lack of achromatic jet breaks compared to the BeppoSAX, or pre-Swift era. Specifically, relatively few breaks, consistent with jet breaks, are observed in the X-ray light curves of these bursts. If these breaks are truly missing, it has serious consequences for the interpretation of GRB jet collimation and energy requirements, and the use of GRBs as cosmological tools. Here we address the issue of X-ray breaks that are possibly `hidden' and hence the light curves are misinterpreted as being single power laws. We do so by synthesising XRT light curves and fitting both single and broken power laws, and comparing the relative goodness of each fit via Monte Carlo analysis. Even with the well sampled light curves of the Swift era, these breaks may be left misidentified, hence caution is required when making definite statements on the absence of achromatic breaks.
Curran Peter A.
der Horst Alexander J. van
Wijers Ralph A. M. J.
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