Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2007-06-10
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
25 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, Accepted to ApJ
Scientific paper
10.1086/522492
We calculate durations and spectral paramaters for 218 Swift bursts detected by the BAT instrument between and including GRBs 041220 and 070509, including 77 events with measured redshifts. Incorporating prior knowledge into the spectral fits, we are able to measure the characteristic $\nu F_{\nu}$ spectral peak energy $E_{\rm pk,obs}$ and the isotropic equivalent energy $E_{\rm iso}$ (1--$10^4$ keV) for all events. This complete and rather extensive catalog, analyzed with a unified methodology, allows us to address the persistence and origin of high-energy correlations suggested in pre-Swift observations. We find that the $E_{\rm pk,obs}$-$E_{\rm iso}$ correlation is present in the Swift sample; however, the best-fit powerlaw relation is inconsistent with the best-fit pre-Swift relation at >5 sigma significance. Moreover, it has a factor >~ 2 larger intrinsic scatter, after accounting for large errors on $E_{\rm pk,obs}$. A large fraction of the Swift events are hard and subluminous relative to (and inconsistent with) the pre-Swift relation, in agreement with indications from BATSE GRBs without redshift. Moreover, we determine an experimental threshold for the BAT detector and show how the $E_{\rm pk,obs}$--$E_{\rm iso}$ correlation arises artificially due to partial correlation with the threshold. We show that pre-Swift correlations found by Amati et al.(2002), Yonetoku et al. (2004), Firmani et al.(2006) (and independently by others) are likely unrelated to the physical properties of GRBs and are likely useless for tests of cosmology. Also, an explanation of these correlations in terms of a detector threshold provides a natural and quantitative explanation for why short-duration GRBs and events at low redshift tend to be outliers to the correlations.
Bloom Joshua S.
Butler Nathaniel R.
Curtis Jason L.
Kocevski Daniel
No associations
LandOfFree
A Complete Catalog of Swift GRB Spectra and Durations: Demise of a Physical Origin for Pre-Swift High-Energy Correlations 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 A Complete Catalog of Swift GRB Spectra and Durations: Demise of a Physical Origin for Pre-Swift High-Energy Correlations, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Complete Catalog of Swift GRB Spectra and Durations: Demise of a Physical Origin for Pre-Swift High-Energy Correlations will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-677523