1,720,988 research outputs found
A multiwavelength view of the transient sky: gamma-ray bursts and other fast transients from optical to gamma-rays
Full text linkA search for pulsations in short gamma-ray bursts to constrain their progenitors
No full textWe searched for periodic and quasi-periodic signals in the prompt emission of a sample of 44 bright short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected with Fermi/GBM, Swift/BAT, andCGRO/BATSE. The aimwas to look for the observational signature of quasi-periodic jet precession, which is expected from black hole (BH)–neutron star (NS) mergers, but
not from double NS systems. Thus, this kind of search holds the key to identifying the progenitor systems of short GRBs and, in the interim before gravitational wave detectors become on-lines, represents the only direct way to constrain the progenitors. We tailored our search to the nature of the expected signal by properly stretching the observed light curves by an increasing factor with time, after calibrating the technique with synthetic curves. None of our GRBs showed evidence for periodic or quasi-periodic signals. In particular, for the seven unambiguously short GRBs with the best signal-to-noise ratios, we obtained significant upper imits to the amplitude of the possible oscillations. This result suggests that BH–NS systems do not dominate the population of short GRB progenitors,
as described by the kinematic model of Stone et al
Average power density spectrum of long GRBs detected with BeppoSAX/GRBM and with Fermi/GBM
No full textFrom past experiments the average power density spectrum (PDS) of GRBs with unknown redshift was found to be modelled from 0.01 to 1 Hz with a power-law, f^(-alpha), with alpha broadly consistent with 5/3. Recent analyses of the Swift/BAT catalogue showed analogous results in the 15-150 keV band. We carried out the same analysis on the bright GRBs detected by BeppoSAX/GRBM and Fermi/GBM. The BeppoSAX/GRBM data, in the energy range 40-700 keV and with 7.8 and 0.5-ms time resolutions, allowed us to explore for the first time the average PDS at very high frequencies (up to 1 kHz) and reveal a break around 1-2 Hz, previously found in CGRO/BATSE data. The Fermi/GBM data, in the energy band 8-1000 keV, allowed us to explore for the first time the average PDS within a broad energy range. Our results confirm and extend the energy dependence of the PDS slope, according to which harder photons have shallower PDS
Individual power density spectra of
Full text linkContext. Timing analysis can be a powerful tool with which to shed light on the still obscure emission physics and geometry of the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Fourier power density spectra (PDS) characterise time series as stochastic processes and can be used to search for coherent pulsations and, more in general, to investigate the dominant variability timescales in astrophysical sources. Because of the limited duration and of the statistical properties involved, modelling the PDS of individual GRBs is challenging, and only average PDS of large samples have been discussed in the literature thus far.
Aims. We aim at characterising the individual PDS of GRBs to describe their variability in terms of a stochastic process, to explore their variety, and to carry out for the first time a systematic search for periodic signals and for a link between PDS properties and other GRB observables.
Methods. We present a Bayesian procedure that uses a Markov chain Monte Carlo technique and apply it to study the individual PDS of 215 bright long GRBs detected with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope in the 15−150 keV band from January 2005 to May 2015. The PDS are modelled with a power-law either with or without a break.
Results. Two classes of GRBs emerge: with or without a unique dominant timescale. A comparison with active galactic nuclei (AGNs) reveals similar distributions of PDS slopes. Unexpectedly, GRBs with subsecond-dominant timescales and duration longer than a few tens of seconds in the source frame appear to be either very rare or altogether absent. Three GRBs are found with possible evidence for a periodic signal at 3.0–3.2σ (Gaussian) significance, corresponding to a multi-trial chance probability of ~1%. Thus, we found no compelling evidence for periodic signal in GRBs.
Conclusions. The analogy between the PDS of GRBs and of AGNs could tentatively indicate similar stochastic processes that rule BH accretion across different BH mass scales and objects. In addition, we find evidence that short dominant timescales and duration are not completely independent of each other, in contrast with commonly accepted paradigms
Possible physical explanation of the intrinsic Ep,i-“intensity” correlation commonly used to “standardize” GRBs
Full text linkIt is recognized that very likely the correlation between peak energy Ep and bolometric intensity is intrinsic to GRBs. However, its physical origin is still debated. In this paper, we will discuss a possible interpretation of the correlation in the light of a GRB prompt emission spectral model, GRBCOMP, proposed in [L. Titarchuk, R. Farinelli, F. Frontera and L. Amati, Astrophys. J. 752 (2012) 116]. GRBCOMP is essentially a photospheric model for the prompt emission of GRBs. Its main ingredients are a thermal bath of soft seed photons and a subrelativistically expanding outflow plasma, consequence of the star explosion. The emerging spectrum is the result of two phases: first, up to the photospheric radius, Comptonization of a subrelativistic electron outflow with thermal bath of soft photons, then, convolution of the Comptonized photons in the first phase with a Green function. The result of this convolution is consistent with different physical processes, in particular Inverse Compton. GRBCOMP has been successfully tested using a significant sample of GRB time resolved spectra in the broad energy band from 2keV to 2MeV [F. Frontera, L. Amati, R. Farinelli, S. Dichiara, C. Guidorzi, R. Landi and L. Titarchuk, Astrophys. J. 779 (2013) 175]
Comptonization signatures in the prompt emission of Gamma Ray Bursts
No full textWe report results of a systematic study of the broad band (2–2000 keV) time–resolved prompt emission spectra of a sample of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) detected with both theWide Field Cameras (WFCs) aboard the BeppoSAX satellite and the BATSE experiment aboard CGRO. The main goal of the paper is to test spectral models of the GRB prompt emission that have recently been proposed.
In particular, we test the photosperic model proposed by Ryde and Pe’er (2009), i.e., blackbody plus power–law, the addition of a blackbody emission to the Band function in the cases in which this function does not fit the data, and the Comptonization model developed by Titarchuk et al. (2012). By considering the few spectra for which the simple Band function does not provide a fully acceptable fit to the data(Frontera et al. 2012), only in one case we find a statistically significant better fit by adding a blackbody to this function. We confirm the results found by Ryde and Pe’er (2009) using the BATSE spectra alone. Instead when the BATSE GRB spectra are joined to those obtained with WFCs (2–28 keV), their model becomes unacceptable in most of time intervals in which we subdivide the GRB light curves. We find instead that the Comptonization model is fully consistent with the spectral data, even in the few cases in which the Band function is not acceptable. We discuss the implications of these results
Correlation between peak energy and Fourier power density spectrum slope in gamma-ray bursts
Full text linkContext. The origin of the gamma–ray burst (GRB) prompt emission still defies explanation, in spite of recent progress made, for example, on the occasional presence of a thermal component in the spectrum along with the ubiquitous non-thermal component that is modelled with a Band function. The combination of finite duration and aperiodic modulations make GRBs hard to characterise temporally. Although correlations between GRB luminosity and spectral hardness on one side and time variability on the other side have long been known, the loose and often arbitrary definition of the latter makes the interpretation uncertain.
Aims. We characterise the temporal variability in an objective way and search for a connection with rest-frame spectral properties for a number of well-observed GRBs.
Methods. We studied the individual power density spectra (PDS) of 123 long GRBs with measured redshift, rest-frame peak energy Ep,i of the time-averaged ν Fν spectrum, and well-constrained PDS slope α detected with Swift, Fermi and past spacecraft. The PDS were modelled with a power law either with or without a break adopting a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo technique.
Results. We find a highly significant Ep,i–α anti-correlation. The null hypothesis probability is ~10-9.
Conclusions. In the framework of the internal shock synchrotron model, the Ep,i–α anti-correlation can hardly be reconciled with the predicted Ep,i ∝ Γ-2, unless either variable microphysical parameters of the shocks or continual electron acceleration are assumed. Alternatively, in the context of models based on magnetic reconnection, the PDS slope and Ep,i are linked to the ejecta magnetisation at the dissipation site, so that more magnetised outflows would produce more variable GRB light curves at short timescales (≲1 s), shallower PDS, and higher values of Ep,i
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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