On the difference between the short and long gamma-ray bursts

L. G. Balázs, Z. Bagoly, I. Horváth, A. Mészáros, P. Mészáros

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Scopus citations

Abstract

We argue that the distributions of both the intrinsic fluence and the intrinsic duration of the γ-ray emission in gamma-ray bursts from the BATSE sample are well represented by log-normal distributions, in which the intrinsic dispersion is much larger than the cosmological time dilatation and redshift effects. We perform separate bivariate log-normal distribution fits to the BATSE short and long burst samples. The bivariate log-normal behaviour results in an ellipsoidal distribution, whose major axis determines an overall statistical relation between the fluence and the duration. We show that this fit provides evidence for a power-law dependence between the fluence and the duration, with a statistically significant different index for the long and short groups. We discuss possible biases, which might affect this result, and argue that the effect is probably real. This may provide a potentially useful constraint for models of long and short bursts.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)129-140
Number of pages12
JournalAstronomy and Astrophysics
Volume401
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2003

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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