Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1994-01-27
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
28 pages, plain TeX (Figures Available as Post Script Files)
Scientific paper
10.1086/174837
A gravitationally lensed gamma-ray burst (GRB) would appear as multiple bursts with identical light curves, separated in time and differing only by the scaling of their amplitudes. However, noise may make them difficult to identify as lensed images. Furthermore, faint, intrinsically similar, yet distinct light curves may be falsely identified as lensing events. In this paper we develop two statistical tests to distinguish noisy burst light curves. We use Fourier analysis techniques to analyze the signals for both intrinsic variability and variability due to noise. We are able to determine the noise level, and we compare the bursts only at frequency channels that are signal dominated. Utilizing these methods, we are able to make quantitative statements about whether two bursts are distinct. We apply these statistics to scaled versions of two subbursts of GRB 910503--- subbursts previously investigated by Wambsganss (1993) using a different statistical test. We find that our methods are able to distinguish these bursts at slightly smaller amplitudes than those at which Wambsganss's method succeeds. We then apply our techniques to ``candidate" lensing events taken from the BATSE catalogue, and we find that nearly all of them, except for the very shortest ones (durations $\aproxlt 0.3 ~s$), are distinguishable. We therefore expect that a majority of bursts will be disinguishable from one another.
Grossman Scott A.
Nowak Maciej A.
No associations
LandOfFree
Can We Identify Lensed Gamma Ray Bursts? does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Can We Identify Lensed Gamma Ray Bursts?, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Can We Identify Lensed Gamma Ray Bursts? will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-350500