scholarly journals A search for radio afterglows from gamma-ray bursts with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder

2021 ◽  
Vol 503 (2) ◽  
pp. 1847-1863
Author(s):  
James K Leung ◽  
Tara Murphy ◽  
Giancarlo Ghirlanda ◽  
David L Kaplan ◽  
Emil Lenc ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present a search for radio afterglows from long gamma-ray bursts using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). Our search used the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey, covering the entire celestial sphere south of declination +41○, and three epochs of the Variables and Slow Transients Pilot Survey (Phase 1), covering ∼5000 square degrees per epoch. The observations we used from these surveys spanned a nine-month period from 2019 April 21 to 2020 January 11. We cross-matched radio sources found in these surveys with 779 well-localized (to ≤15 arcsec) long gamma-ray bursts occurring after 2004 and determined whether the associations were more likely afterglow- or host-related through the analysis of optical images. In our search, we detected one radio afterglow candidate associated with GRB 171205A, a local low-luminosity gamma-ray burst with a supernova counterpart SN 2017iuk, in an ASKAP observation 511 d post-burst. We confirmed this detection with further observations of the radio afterglow using the Australia Telescope Compact Array at 859 and 884 d post-burst. Combining this data with archival data from early-time radio observations, we showed the evolution of the radio spectral energy distribution alone could reveal clear signatures of a wind-like circumburst medium for the burst. Finally, we derived semi-analytical estimates for the microphysical shock parameters of the burst: electron power-law index p = 2.84, normalized wind-density parameter A* = 3, fractional energy in electrons ϵe = 0.3, and fractional energy in magnetic fields ϵB = 0.0002.

2017 ◽  
Vol 607 ◽  
pp. A121 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Bernardini ◽  
G. Ghirlanda ◽  
S. Campana ◽  
P. D’Avanzo ◽  
J.-L. Atteia ◽  
...  

The delay in arrival times between high and low energy photons from cosmic sources can be used to test the violation of the Lorentz invariance (LIV), predicted by some quantum gravity theories, and to constrain its characteristic energy scale EQG that is of the order of the Planck energy. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and blazars are ideal for this purpose thanks to their broad spectral energy distribution and cosmological distances: at first order approximation, the constraints on EQG are proportional to the photon energy separation and the distance of the source. However, the LIV tiny contribution to the total time delay can be dominated by intrinsic delays related to the physics of the sources: long GRBs typically show a delay between high and low energy photons related to their spectral evolution (spectral lag). Short GRBs have null intrinsic spectral lags and are therefore an ideal tool to measure any LIV effect. We considered a sample of 15 short GRBs with known redshift observed by Swift and we estimate a limit on EQG ≳ 1.5 × 1016 GeV. Our estimate represents an improvement with respect to the limit obtained with a larger (double) sample of long GRBs and is more robust than the estimates on single events because it accounts for the intrinsic delay in a statistical sense.


2021 ◽  
Vol 922 (2) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Qing-Wen Tang ◽  
Kai Wang ◽  
Liang Li ◽  
Ruo-Yu Liu

Abstract A prompt extra power-law (PL) spectral component that usually dominates the spectral energy distribution below tens of keV or above ∼10 MeV has been discovered in some bright gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, its origin is still unclear. In this paper, we present a systematic analysis of 13 Fermi short GRBs, as of 2020 August, with contemporaneous keV–MeV and GeV detections during the prompt emission phase. We find that the extra PL component is a ubiquitous spectral feature for short GRBs, showing up in all 13 analyzed GRBs. The PL indices are mostly harder than −2.0, which may be well reproduced by considering the electromagnetic cascade induced by ultrarelativistic protons or electrons accelerated in the prompt emission phase. The average flux of these extra PL components positively correlates with that of the main spectral components, which implies they may share the same physical origin.


2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Massaro ◽  
J. E. Grindlay ◽  
A. Paggi ◽  
Nobuyuki Kawai ◽  
Shigehiro Nagataki

2020 ◽  
Vol 501 (1) ◽  
pp. 337-346
Author(s):  
E Mestre ◽  
E de Oña Wilhelmi ◽  
D Khangulyan ◽  
R Zanin ◽  
F Acero ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Since 2009, several rapid and bright flares have been observed at high energies (>100 MeV) from the direction of the Crab nebula. Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain this phenomenon, but the origin is still unclear. The detection of counterparts at higher energies with the next generation of Cherenkov telescopes will be determinant to constrain the underlying emission mechanisms. We aim at studying the capability of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to explore the physics behind the flares, by performing simulations of the Crab nebula spectral energy distribution, both in flaring and steady state, for different parameters related to the physical conditions in the nebula. In particular, we explore the data recorded by Fermi during two particular flares that occurred in 2011 and 2013. The expected GeV and TeV gamma-ray emission is derived using different radiation models. The resulting emission is convoluted with the CTA response and tested for detection, obtaining an exclusion region for the space of parameters that rule the different flare emission models. Our simulations show different scenarios that may be favourable for achieving the detection of the flares in Crab with CTA, in different regimes of energy. In particular, we find that observations with low sub-100 GeV energy threshold telescopes could provide the most model-constraining results.


2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (3) ◽  
pp. 3581-3590
Author(s):  
Emma de Oña Wilhelmi ◽  
Iurii Sushch ◽  
Robert Brose ◽  
Enrique Mestre ◽  
Yang Su ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Recent results obtained with gamma-ray satellites have established supernova remnants as accelerators of GeV hadronic cosmic rays. In such processes, CRs accelerated in SNR shocks interact with particles from gas clouds in their surrounding. In particular, the rich medium in which core-collapse SNRs explode provides a large target density to boost hadronic gamma-rays. SNR G39.2–0.3 is one of the brightest SNR in infrared wavelengths, and its broad multiwavelength coverage allows a detailed modelling of its radiation from radio to high energies. We reanalysed the Fermi-LAT data on this region and compare it with new radio observations from the MWISP survey. The modelling of the spectral energy distribution from radio to GeV energies favours a hadronic origin of the gamma-ray emission and constrains the SNR magnetic field to be at least ∼100 µG. Despite the large magnetic field, the present acceleration of protons seems to be limited to ∼10 GeV, which points to a drastic slow down of the shock velocity due to the dense wall traced by the CO observations, surrounding the remnant. Further investigation of the gamma-ray spectral shape points to a dynamically old remnant subjected to severe escape of CRs and a decrease of acceleration efficiency. The low-energy peak of the gamma-ray spectrum also suggests that that the composition of accelerated particles might be enriched by heavy nuclei which is certainly expected for a core-collapse SNR. Alternatively, the contribution of the compressed pre-existing Galactic cosmic rays is discussed, which is, however, found to not likely be the dominant process for gamma-ray production.


2019 ◽  
Vol 207 ◽  
pp. 02001
Author(s):  
Anna Franckowiak

In September 22, 2017, IceCube released a public alert announcing the detection of a 290 TeV neutrino track event with an angular uncertainty of one square degree (90% containment). A multi-messenger follow-up campaign was initiated resulting in the detection of a GeV gamma-ray flare by the Fermi Large Area Telescope positionally consistent with the location of the known Bl Lac object, TXS 0506+056 , located only 0.1 degrees from the best-fit neutrino position. The probability of finding a GeV gamma-ray flare in coincidence with a high-energy neutrino event assuming a correlation of the neutrino flux with the gamma-ray energy flux in the energy band between 1 and 100 GeV was calculated to be 3σ (after trials correction). Following the detection of the flaring blazar the imaging air Cherenkov telescope MAGIC detected the source for the first time in the > 100 GeV gamma-ray band. The activity of the source was confirmed in X-ray, optical and radio wavelength. Several groups have developed lepto-hadronic models which succeed to explain the multi-messenger spectral energy distribution.


2013 ◽  
Vol 772 (1) ◽  
pp. 73 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Kopač ◽  
S. Kobayashi ◽  
A. Gomboc ◽  
J. Japelj ◽  
C. G. Mundell ◽  
...  

2001 ◽  
Vol 372 (2) ◽  
pp. 438-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. V. Sokolov ◽  
T. A. Fatkhullin ◽  
A. J. Castro-Tirado ◽  
A. S. Fruchter ◽  
V. N. Komarova ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 493 (2) ◽  
pp. 2438-2451
Author(s):  
B Arsioli ◽  
Y-L Chang ◽  
B Musiimenta

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a γ-ray likelihood analysis over all the extreme and high synchrotron peak blazars (EHSP and HSP) from the 3HSP catalogue. We investigate 2013 multifrequency positions under the eyes of Fermi Large Area Telescope, considering 11 yr of observations in the energy range between 500 MeV and 500 GeV, which results in 1160 γ-ray signatures detected down to the TS=9 threshold. The detections include 235 additional sources concerning the Fermi Large Area Telescope Fourth Source Catalog (4FGL), all confirmed via high-energy TS (Test Statistic) maps, and represent an improvement of ∼25 per cent for the number of EHSP and HSP currently described in γ-rays. We build the γ-ray spectral energy distribution (SED) for all the 1160 2BIGB sources, plot the corresponding γ-ray logN−logS, and measure their total contribution to the extragalactic gamma-ray background, which reaches up to ∼33 per cent at 100 GeV. Also, we show that the γ-ray detectability improves according to the synchrotron peak flux as represented by the figure of merit parameter, and note that the search for TeV peaked blazars may benefit from considering HSP and EHSP as a whole, instead of EHSPs only. The 2BIGB acronym stands for ‘Second Brazil-ICRANet Gamma-ray Blazars’ catalogue, and all the broad-band models and SED data points will be available on public data repositories (OpenUniverse, GitHub, and Brazilian Science Data Center-BSDC).


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