A SIZE-DURATION TREND FOR GAMMA-RAY BURST PROGENITORS

Journal Article · Fri Oct 10 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/794/1/L8· OSTI ID:22364940

Barnacka, Anna; Loeb, Abraham ^[1]

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1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS-20, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) show a bimodal distribution of durations, separated at a duration of ∼2 s. Observations have confirmed the association of long GRBs with the collapse of massive stars. The origin of short GRBs is still being explored. We examine constraints on the size of emission regions in short and long GRBs detected by Fermi/GBM. We find that the transverse extent of emission regions during the prompt phase, R, and the burst duration, T {sub 90}, are consistent with the relation R ∼ c × T {sub 90}, for both long and short GRBs. We find the characteristic transverse extent for the prompt emission region to be ∼2 × 10{sup 10} cm and ∼4 × 10{sup 11} cm for short and long GRBs, respectively.

• OSTI ID: 22364940
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 794, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
DATA ANALYSIS
GRAVITATIONAL COLLAPSE
LIMITING VALUES
ORIGIN
PHOTON EMISSION