Bright Gamma-Ray Flares Observed in GRB 131108A
Abstract
GRB 131108A is a bright long gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected by the Large Area Telescope and the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Dedicated temporal and spectral analyses reveal three γ-ray flares dominating above 100 MeV, which are not directly related to the prompt emission in the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor band (10 keV–10 MeV). The high-energy light curve of GRB 131108A (100 MeV–10 GeV) shows an unusual evolution: a steep decay, followed by three flares with an underlying emission, and then a long-lasting decay phase. The detailed analysis of the γ-ray flares finds that the three flares are 6–20 times brighter than the underlying emission and are similar to each other. The fluence of each flare, (1.6 ~ 2.0) × 10-6 erg cm-2, is comparable to that of emission during the steep decay phase, 1.7 × 10-6 erg cm-2. The total fluence from three γ-ray flares is 5.3 × 10-6 erg cm-2. The three γ-ray flares show properties similar to the usual X-ray flares that are sharp flux increases, occurring in ~50% of afterglows, in some cases well after the prompt emission. Finally, the temporal and spectral indices during the early steep decay phase and the decaying phase of each flare show the consistency with a relation of the curvature effect ($$\hat{\alpha }$$ = 2 + $$\hat{\beta }$$), which is the first observational evidence of the high-latitude emission in the GeV energy band.
- Authors:
- more »
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- Contributing Org.:
- Fermi-LAT Collaboration
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1595251
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal. Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 886; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-8213
- Publisher:
- Institute of Physics (IOP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Citation Formats
Ajello, M., Arimoto, M., Asano, K., Axelsson, M., Baldini, L., Barbiellini, G., Bastieri, D., Bellazzini, R., Berretta, A., Bissaldi, E., Blandford, R. D., Bonino, R., Bottacini, E., Bregeon, J., Bruel, P., Buehler, R., Buson, S., Cameron, R. A., Caputo, R., Caraveo, P. A., Cavazzuti, E., Chen, S., Chiaro, G., Ciprini, S., Costantin, D., Cutini, S., D’Ammando, F., Torre Luque, P. de la, Palma, F. de, Lalla, N. Di, Venere, L. Di, Dirirsa, F. Fana, Fegan, S. J., Franckowiak, A., Fukazawa, Y., Fusco, P., Gargano, F., Gasparrini, D., Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Giroletti, M., Green, D., Grenier, I. A., Grondin, M. -H., Guiriec, S., Hays, E., Horan, D., Jóhannesson, G., Kocevski, D., Kovac’evic’, M., Kuss, M., Larsson, S., Latronico, L., Li, J., Liodakis, I., Longo, F., Loparco, F., Lovellette, M. N., Lubrano, P., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Martí-Devesa, G., Mazziotta, M. N., McEnery, J. E., Mereu, I., Michelson, P. F., Mizuno, T., Monzani, M. E., Moretti, E., Morselli, A., Moskalenko, I. V., Negro, M., Nuss, E., Ohno, M., Omodei, N., Orienti, M., Orlando, E., Palatiello, M., Paliya, V. S., Paneque, D., Pei, Z., Persic, M., Pesce-Rollins, M., Petrosian, V., Piron, F., Poon, H., Porter, T. A., Principe, G., Racusin, J. L., Rainò, S., Rando, R., Rani, B., Razzano, M., Reimer, A., Reimer, O., Serini, D., Sgrò, C., Siskind, E. J., Spandre, G., Spinelli, P., Tajima, H., Takagi, K., Tak, D., Torres, D. F., Valverde, J., Wood, K., Yamazaki, R., Yassine, M., Zhu, S., Uhm, Z. Lucas, and Zhang, Bing. Bright Gamma-Ray Flares Observed in GRB 131108A. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab564f.
Ajello, M., Arimoto, M., Asano, K., Axelsson, M., Baldini, L., Barbiellini, G., Bastieri, D., Bellazzini, R., Berretta, A., Bissaldi, E., Blandford, R. D., Bonino, R., Bottacini, E., Bregeon, J., Bruel, P., Buehler, R., Buson, S., Cameron, R. A., Caputo, R., Caraveo, P. A., Cavazzuti, E., Chen, S., Chiaro, G., Ciprini, S., Costantin, D., Cutini, S., D’Ammando, F., Torre Luque, P. de la, Palma, F. de, Lalla, N. Di, Venere, L. Di, Dirirsa, F. Fana, Fegan, S. J., Franckowiak, A., Fukazawa, Y., Fusco, P., Gargano, F., Gasparrini, D., Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Giroletti, M., Green, D., Grenier, I. A., Grondin, M. -H., Guiriec, S., Hays, E., Horan, D., Jóhannesson, G., Kocevski, D., Kovac’evic’, M., Kuss, M., Larsson, S., Latronico, L., Li, J., Liodakis, I., Longo, F., Loparco, F., Lovellette, M. N., Lubrano, P., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Martí-Devesa, G., Mazziotta, M. N., McEnery, J. E., Mereu, I., Michelson, P. F., Mizuno, T., Monzani, M. E., Moretti, E., Morselli, A., Moskalenko, I. V., Negro, M., Nuss, E., Ohno, M., Omodei, N., Orienti, M., Orlando, E., Palatiello, M., Paliya, V. S., Paneque, D., Pei, Z., Persic, M., Pesce-Rollins, M., Petrosian, V., Piron, F., Poon, H., Porter, T. A., Principe, G., Racusin, J. L., Rainò, S., Rando, R., Rani, B., Razzano, M., Reimer, A., Reimer, O., Serini, D., Sgrò, C., Siskind, E. J., Spandre, G., Spinelli, P., Tajima, H., Takagi, K., Tak, D., Torres, D. F., Valverde, J., Wood, K., Yamazaki, R., Yassine, M., Zhu, S., Uhm, Z. Lucas, & Zhang, Bing. Bright Gamma-Ray Flares Observed in GRB 131108A. United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab564f
Ajello, M., Arimoto, M., Asano, K., Axelsson, M., Baldini, L., Barbiellini, G., Bastieri, D., Bellazzini, R., Berretta, A., Bissaldi, E., Blandford, R. D., Bonino, R., Bottacini, E., Bregeon, J., Bruel, P., Buehler, R., Buson, S., Cameron, R. A., Caputo, R., Caraveo, P. A., Cavazzuti, E., Chen, S., Chiaro, G., Ciprini, S., Costantin, D., Cutini, S., D’Ammando, F., Torre Luque, P. de la, Palma, F. de, Lalla, N. Di, Venere, L. Di, Dirirsa, F. Fana, Fegan, S. J., Franckowiak, A., Fukazawa, Y., Fusco, P., Gargano, F., Gasparrini, D., Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Giroletti, M., Green, D., Grenier, I. A., Grondin, M. -H., Guiriec, S., Hays, E., Horan, D., Jóhannesson, G., Kocevski, D., Kovac’evic’, M., Kuss, M., Larsson, S., Latronico, L., Li, J., Liodakis, I., Longo, F., Loparco, F., Lovellette, M. N., Lubrano, P., Maldera, S., Manfreda, A., Martí-Devesa, G., Mazziotta, M. N., McEnery, J. E., Mereu, I., Michelson, P. F., Mizuno, T., Monzani, M. E., Moretti, E., Morselli, A., Moskalenko, I. V., Negro, M., Nuss, E., Ohno, M., Omodei, N., Orienti, M., Orlando, E., Palatiello, M., Paliya, V. S., Paneque, D., Pei, Z., Persic, M., Pesce-Rollins, M., Petrosian, V., Piron, F., Poon, H., Porter, T. A., Principe, G., Racusin, J. L., Rainò, S., Rando, R., Rani, B., Razzano, M., Reimer, A., Reimer, O., Serini, D., Sgrò, C., Siskind, E. J., Spandre, G., Spinelli, P., Tajima, H., Takagi, K., Tak, D., Torres, D. F., Valverde, J., Wood, K., Yamazaki, R., Yassine, M., Zhu, S., Uhm, Z. Lucas, and Zhang, Bing. Wed .
"Bright Gamma-Ray Flares Observed in GRB 131108A". United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab564f. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1595251.
@article{osti_1595251,
title = {Bright Gamma-Ray Flares Observed in GRB 131108A},
author = {Ajello, M. and Arimoto, M. and Asano, K. and Axelsson, M. and Baldini, L. and Barbiellini, G. and Bastieri, D. and Bellazzini, R. and Berretta, A. and Bissaldi, E. and Blandford, R. D. and Bonino, R. and Bottacini, E. and Bregeon, J. and Bruel, P. and Buehler, R. and Buson, S. and Cameron, R. A. and Caputo, R. and Caraveo, P. A. and Cavazzuti, E. and Chen, S. and Chiaro, G. and Ciprini, S. and Costantin, D. and Cutini, S. and D’Ammando, F. and Torre Luque, P. de la and Palma, F. de and Lalla, N. Di and Venere, L. Di and Dirirsa, F. Fana and Fegan, S. J. and Franckowiak, A. and Fukazawa, Y. and Fusco, P. and Gargano, F. and Gasparrini, D. and Giglietto, N. and Giordano, F. and Giroletti, M. and Green, D. and Grenier, I. A. and Grondin, M. -H. and Guiriec, S. and Hays, E. and Horan, D. and Jóhannesson, G. and Kocevski, D. and Kovac’evic’, M. and Kuss, M. and Larsson, S. and Latronico, L. and Li, J. and Liodakis, I. and Longo, F. and Loparco, F. and Lovellette, M. N. and Lubrano, P. and Maldera, S. and Manfreda, A. and Martí-Devesa, G. and Mazziotta, M. N. and McEnery, J. E. and Mereu, I. and Michelson, P. F. and Mizuno, T. and Monzani, M. E. and Moretti, E. and Morselli, A. and Moskalenko, I. V. and Negro, M. and Nuss, E. and Ohno, M. and Omodei, N. and Orienti, M. and Orlando, E. and Palatiello, M. and Paliya, V. S. and Paneque, D. and Pei, Z. and Persic, M. and Pesce-Rollins, M. and Petrosian, V. and Piron, F. and Poon, H. and Porter, T. A. and Principe, G. and Racusin, J. L. and Rainò, S. and Rando, R. and Rani, B. and Razzano, M. and Reimer, A. and Reimer, O. and Serini, D. and Sgrò, C. and Siskind, E. J. and Spandre, G. and Spinelli, P. and Tajima, H. and Takagi, K. and Tak, D. and Torres, D. F. and Valverde, J. and Wood, K. and Yamazaki, R. and Yassine, M. and Zhu, S. and Uhm, Z. Lucas and Zhang, Bing},
abstractNote = {GRB 131108A is a bright long gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected by the Large Area Telescope and the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Dedicated temporal and spectral analyses reveal three γ-ray flares dominating above 100 MeV, which are not directly related to the prompt emission in the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor band (10 keV–10 MeV). The high-energy light curve of GRB 131108A (100 MeV–10 GeV) shows an unusual evolution: a steep decay, followed by three flares with an underlying emission, and then a long-lasting decay phase. The detailed analysis of the γ-ray flares finds that the three flares are 6–20 times brighter than the underlying emission and are similar to each other. The fluence of each flare, (1.6 ~ 2.0) × 10-6 erg cm-2, is comparable to that of emission during the steep decay phase, 1.7 × 10-6 erg cm-2. The total fluence from three γ-ray flares is 5.3 × 10-6 erg cm-2. The three γ-ray flares show properties similar to the usual X-ray flares that are sharp flux increases, occurring in ~50% of afterglows, in some cases well after the prompt emission. Finally, the temporal and spectral indices during the early steep decay phase and the decaying phase of each flare show the consistency with a relation of the curvature effect ($\hat{\alpha }$ = 2 + $\hat{\beta }$), which is the first observational evidence of the high-latitude emission in the GeV energy band.},
doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ab564f},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal. Letters},
number = 2,
volume = 886,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {11}
}
Works referenced in this record:
External forward shock origin of high-energy emission for three gamma-ray bursts detected by Fermi: GRB high-energy photons detected by Fermi
journal, August 2010
- Kumar, P.; Duran, R. Barniol
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 409, Issue 1
Estimating the Dimension of a Model
journal, March 1978
- Schwarz, Gideon
- The Annals of Statistics, Vol. 6, Issue 2
Variabilities of Gamma‐Ray Burst Afterglows: Long‐acting Engine, Anisotropic Jet, or Many Fluctuating Regions?
journal, September 2005
- Ioka, Kunihito; Kobayashi, Shiho; Zhang, Bing
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 631, Issue 1
FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE THIRD SOURCE CATALOG
journal, June 2015
- Acero, F.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 218, Issue 2
Detection of High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission During the X-Ray Flaring Activity in grb 100728a
journal, May 2011
- Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 734, Issue 2
The Onset of Gamma‐Ray Burst Afterglow
journal, February 2007
- Kobayashi, Shiho; Zhang, Bing
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 655, Issue 2
Afterglow Emission from Naked Gamma-Ray Bursts
journal, October 2000
- Kumar, Pawan; Panaitescu, Alin
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 541, Issue 2
Prompt Optical Emission from Residual Collisions in Gamma-Ray Burst Outflows
journal, January 2008
- Li, Zhuo; Waxman, Eli
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 674, Issue 2
Testing the Curvature Effect and Internal Origin of Gamma‐Ray Burst Prompt Emissions and X‐Ray Flares with Swift Data
journal, July 2006
- Liang, E. W.; Zhang, B.; O’Brien, P. T.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 646, Issue 1
A Decade of Gamma-Ray Bursts Observed by Fermi -LAT: The Second GRB Catalog
journal, June 2019
- Ajello, M.; Arimoto, M.; Axelsson, M.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 878, Issue 1
The First Survey of X‐Ray Flares from Gamma‐Ray Bursts Observed by Swift : Spectral Properties and Energetics
journal, December 2007
- Falcone, A. D.; Morris, D.; Racusin, J.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 671, Issue 2
The First Survey of X‐Ray Flares from Gamma‐Ray Bursts Observed by Swift : Temporal Properties and Morphology
journal, December 2007
- Chincarini, G.; Moretti, A.; Romano, P.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 671, Issue 2
A Statistical Study of grb X-Ray Flares: Evidence of Ubiquitous bulk Acceleration in the Emission Region
journal, July 2016
- Jia, Lan-Wei; Uhm, Z. Lucas; Zhang, Bing
- The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 225, Issue 1
Evidence of bulk Acceleration of the grb X-Ray Flare Emission Region
journal, June 2016
- Uhm, Z. Lucas; Zhang, Bing
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 824, Issue 1
Evidence for a Canonical Gamma‐Ray Burst Afterglow Light Curve in the Swift XRT Data
journal, May 2006
- Nousek, J. A.; Kouveliotou, C.; Grupe, D.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 642, Issue 1
Is GeV emission from Gamma-Ray Bursts of external shock origin?: Is GeV emission of external shock origin?
journal, May 2011
- Maxham, Amanda; Zhang, Bin-Bin; Zhang, Bing
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 415, Issue 1
Physical Processes Shaping Gamma‐Ray Burst X‐Ray Afterglow Light Curves: Theoretical Implications from the Swift X‐Ray Telescope Observations
journal, May 2006
- Zhang, Bing; Fan, Y. Z.; Dyks, Jaroslaw
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 642, Issue 1
Spectra and Light Curves of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
journal, April 1998
- Sari, Re'em; Piran, Tsvi; Narayan, Ramesh
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 497, Issue 1
High-energy afterglow emission from gamma-ray bursts
journal, March 2008
- Fan, Yi-Zhong; Piran, Tsvi; Narayan, Ramesh
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 384, Issue 4
Optical and Long‐Wavelength Afterglow from Gamma‐Ray Bursts
journal, February 1997
- Meszaros, P.; Rees, M. J.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 476, Issue 1
Nearly Periodic Fluctuations in the Long-Term X-Ray Light Curves of the Blazars ao 0235+164 and 1es 2321+419
journal, April 2009
- Rani, Bindu; Wiita, Paul J.; Gupta, Alok C.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 696, Issue 2
Expanding Relativistic Shells and Gamma‐Ray Burst Temporal Structure
journal, December 1996
- Fenimore, Edward E.; Madras, Claudine D.; Nayakshin, Sergei
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 473, Issue 2
X-ray flare in XRF 050406: evidence for prolonged engine activity
journal, April 2006
- Romano, P.; Moretti, A.; Banat, P. L.
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 450, Issue 1
Closure Relations of Gamma-Ray Bursts in High Energy Emission
journal, September 2019
- Tak, Donggeun; Omodei, Nicola; Lucas Uhm, Z.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 883, Issue 2
GeV-TeV and X-Ray Flares from Gamma-Ray Bursts
journal, April 2006
- Wang, Xiang-Yu; Li, Zhuo; Mészáros, Peter
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 641, Issue 2
GeV emission from gamma-ray bursts: a radiative fireball?: GRBs observed by Fermi-LAT
journal, February 2010
- Ghisellini, G.; Ghirlanda, G.; Nava, L.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 403, Issue 2
X-ray flares and the duration of engine activity in gamma-ray bursts
journal, February 2007
- Lazzati, D.; Perna, R.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Vol. 375, Issue 1
BATSE observations of gamma-ray burst spectra. I - Spectral diversity
journal, August 1993
- Band, D.; Matteson, J.; Ford, L.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 413
GRB 060313: A New Paradigm for Short‐Hard Bursts?
journal, November 2006
- Roming, Peter W. A.; Vanden Berk, Daniel; Pal’shin, Valentin
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 651, Issue 2
Unveiling the origin of X-ray flares in gamma-ray bursts: GRB X-ray flares
journal, July 2010
- Chincarini, G.; Mao, J.; Margutti, R.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 406, Issue 4
TOWARD A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE GRB PHENOMENON: A NEW MODEL FOR GRB PROMPT EMISSION AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE NEW L i NT – E peak,i rest,NT RELATION
journal, July 2015
- Guiriec, S.; Kouveliotou, C.; Daigne, F.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 807, Issue 2
The Giant X‐Ray Flare of GRB 050502B: Evidence for Late‐Time Internal Engine Activity
journal, April 2006
- Falcone, A. D.; Burrows, D. N.; Lazzati, D.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 641, Issue 2
Attributes of Pulses in Long Bright Gamma-Ray Bursts
journal, March 1996
- Norris, J. P.; Nemiroff, R. J.; Bonnell, J. T.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 459
THE FIRST FERMI -LAT GAMMA-RAY BURST CATALOG
journal, October 2013
- Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Asano, K.
- The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 209, Issue 1
Bright X-ray Flares in Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
journal, September 2005
- Burrows, D. N.
- Science, Vol. 309, Issue 5742
Late internal-shock model for bright X-ray flares in gamma-ray burst afterglows and GRB 011121
journal, November 2005
- Fan, Y. Z.; Wei, D. M.
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Vol. 364, Issue 1
High energy afterglows and flares from gamma-ray burst by inverse Compton emission
journal, October 2007
- Galli, A.; Piro, L.
- Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 475, Issue 2
The discrete correlation function - A new method for analyzing unevenly sampled variability data
journal, October 1988
- Edelson, R. A.; Krolik, J. H.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 333
Gamma-Ray Burst Flares: X-Ray Flaring. ii.
journal, May 2014
- Swenson, C. A.; Roming, P. W. A.
- The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 788, Issue 1
Works referencing / citing this record:
Bright Gamma-Ray Flares Observed in GRB 131108A
text, January 2019
- Ajello, M.; Arimoto, M.; Asano, K.
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg