The DOI matches its Crossref record; 67 of the 67 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Evidence for a Canonical Gamma‐Ray Burst Afterglow Light Curve in the Swift XRT Data
Open accessAbstract
We present new observations of the early X-ray afterglows of the first 27 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) well observed by the Swift X-Ray Telescope (XRT). The early X-ray afterglows show a canonical behavior, where the light curve broadly consists of three distinct power-law segments: (1) an initial very steep decay (∝ t -α with 3 ≲ α 1 ≲ 5), followed by (2) a very shallow decay (0.5 ≲ α 2 ≲ 1.0), and finally (3) a somewhat steeper decay (1 ≲ α 3 ≲ 1.5). These power-law segments are separated by two corresponding break times, t break,1 ≲ 500 s and 10 3 s ≲ t break,2 ≲ 10 4 s. On top of this canonical behavior, many events have superimposed X-ray flares, which are most likely caused by internal shocks due to long-lasting sporadic activity of the central engine, up to several hours after the GRB. We find that the initial steep decay is consistent with it being the tail of the prompt emission, from photons that are radiated at large angles relative to our line of sight. The first break in the light curve ( t break,1 ) takes place when the forward shock emission becomes dominant, with the intermediate shallow flux decay (α 2 ) likely caused by the continuous energy injection into the external shock. When this energy injection stops, a second break is then observed in the light curve ( t break,2 ). This energy injection increases the energy of the afterglow shock by at least a factor of f ≳ 4 and augments the already severe requirements for the efficiency of the prompt gamma-ray emission.
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Cites
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The Swift Gamma‐Ray Burst Mission
Gehrels, N., Chincarini, G., Giommi, P., Mason, K. O., Nousek, J. A., Wells, A. A., White, N. E., Barthelmy, S. D., Burrows, D. N., Cominsky, L. R., et al. (2004) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/422091 · Cited by 4,154
Self-citationGamma-ray bursts from stellar mass accretion disks around black holes
Woosley, S. E. (1993) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/172359 · Cited by 2,554
Spectra and Light Curves of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
Sari, R., Piran, T., & Narayan, R. (1998) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/311269 · Cited by 2,297
Nucleosynthesis, neutrino bursts and γ-rays from coalescing neutron stars
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Identification of two classes of gamma-ray bursts
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Self-citationAn unusual supernova in the error box of the γ-ray burst of 25 April 1998
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Self-citationGamma-ray bursts and the fireball model
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Self-citationSpectra and Light Curves of Gamma-Ray Burst AfterglowsPreprint
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Cited by
Zhang, B., Fan, Y. Z., Dyks, J., Kobayashi, S., Meszaros, P., Burrows, D. N., Nousek, J. A., & Gehrels, N. (2006) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/500723 · Cited by 1,079
“Limited by the quality of the data, the current analyses indicate that the spectral indices remain unchanged in segments II, III, and IV, with a typical value of X 1 (FX / X ; Nousek et al. 2006).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationThe physics of gamma-ray bursts & relativistic jets
Kumar, P., & Zhang, B. (2015) · Physics Reports · doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2014.09.008 · Cited by 952
Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Swift Era
Gehrels, N., Ramirez-Ruiz, E., & Fox, D. B. (2009) · Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev.astro.46.060407.145147 · Cited by 615
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Magnetars: the physics behind observations. A review
Turolla, R., Zane, S., & Watts, A. L. (2015) · Reports on Progress in Physics · doi:10.1088/0034-4885/78/11/116901 · Cited by 447
Metadata
- Authors
- Nousek, J. A., Kouveliotou, C., Grupe, D., Page, K. L., Granot, J., Ramirez‐Ruiz, E., Patel, S. K., Burrows, D. N., Mangano, V., Barthelmy, S., Beardmore, A. P., Campana, S., Capalbi, M., Chincarini, G., Cusumano, G., Falcone, A. D., Gehrels, N., Giommi, P., Goad, M. R., Godet, O., Hurkett, C. P., Kennea, J. A., Moretti, A., O’Brien, P. T., Osborne, J. P., Romano, P., Tagliaferri, G., & Wells, A. A.
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2006-05
- Volume
- 642
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 389-400
- ISSN
- 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4357
- OpenAlex
- W2763541359
- Cited by
- 886
- References
- 67
- FWCI
- 53.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
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- Nousek, J. A., Kouveliotou, C., Grupe, D., Page, K. L., Granot, J., Ramirez‐Ruiz, E., Patel, S. K., Burrows, D. N., Mangano, V., Barthelmy, S., Beardmore, A. P., Campana, S., Capalbi, M., Chincarini, G., Cusumano, G., Falcone, A. D., Gehrels, N., Giommi, P., Goad, M. R., . . . Wells, A. A. (2006). Evidence for a Canonical Gamma‐Ray Burst Afterglow Light Curve in the Swift XRT Data. The Astrophysical Journal. https://doi.org/10.1086/500724
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