Distributed Architectures and Constellations for γ-ray Burst Science

The gravitational wave/γ-ray burst GW/GRB170817 event marked the beginning of the era of multi-messenger astrophysics, in which new observations of Gravitational Waves (GW) are combined with traditional electromagnetic observations from the very same astrophysical source. In the next few years, Advanced LIGO/VIRGO and KAGRA in Japan and LIGO-India will reach their nominal/ultimate sensitivity. In the electromagnetic domain, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will come online in the next few years, and they will revolutionize the investigation of transient and variable cosmic sources in the optical and TeV bands. The operation of an efficient X-ray/γ-ray all-sky monitor with good localisation capabilities will play a pivotal role in providing the high-energy counterparts of the GW interferometers and Rubin Observatory, bringing multi-messenger astrophysics to maturity. To reach the required precision in localisation and timeliness for an unpredictable physical event in time and space requires a sensor distribution covering the whole sky. We discuss the potential of large-scale, small-platform-distributed architectures and constellations to build a sensitive X-ray/γ-ray all-sky monitor and the programmatic implications of this, including the set-up of an efficient assembly line for both hardware development and data analysis. We also discuss the potential of a constellation of small platforms operating at other wavelengths (UV/IR) that are capable of repointing quickly to follow-up high-energy transients.

GRB 210121A: A Typical Fireball Burst Detected by Two Small Missions

The Chinese CubeSat Mission, Gamma Ray Integrated Detectors (GRID), recently detected its first gamma-ray burst, GRB 210121A, which was jointly observed by the Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM). This burst is confirmed by several other missions, including Fermi and Insight-HXMT. We combined multimission observational data and performed a comprehensive analysis of the burst’s temporal and spectral properties. Our results show that the burst is relatively special in its high peak energy, thermal-like low-energy indices, and large fluence. By putting it to the E p –E γ,iso relation diagram with assumed distance, we found that this burst can be constrained at the redshift range of [0.3, 3.0]. The thermal spectral component is also confirmed by the direct fit of the physical models to the observed spectra. Interestingly, the physical photosphere model also constrained a redshift of z ∼ 0.3 for this burst, which helps us to identify a host galaxy candidate at such a distance within the location error box. Assuming that the host galaxy is real, we found that the burst can be best explained by the photosphere emission of a typical fireball with an initial radius of r 0 ∼ 3.2 × 107 cm.

GrailQuest: hunting for atoms of space and time hidden in the wrinkle of Space-Time

GrailQuest (Gamma Ray Astronomy International Laboratory for QUantum Exploration of Space-Time) is a mission concept based on a constellation (hundreds/thousands) of nano/micro/small-satellites in low (or near) Earth orbits. Each satellite hosts a non-collimated array of scintillator crystals coupled with Silicon Drift Detectors with broad energy band coverage (keV-MeV range) and excellent temporal resolution (≤ 100 nanoseconds) each with effective area $\sim 100 \text {cm}^{2}$ ∼ 100 cm 2 . This simple and robust design allows for mass-production of the satellites of the fleet. This revolutionary approach implies a huge reduction of costs, flexibility in the segmented launching strategy, and an incremental long-term plan to increase the number of detectors and their performance; this will result in a living observatory for next-generation, space-based astronomical facilities. GrailQuest is conceived as an all-sky monitor for fast localisation of high signal-to-noise ratio transients in the X-/gamma-ray band, e.g. the elusive electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events. Robust temporal triangulation techniques will allow unprecedented localisation capabilities, in the keV-MeV band, of a few arcseconds or below, depending on the temporal structure of the transient event. The ambitious ultimate goal of this mission is to perform the first experiment, in quantum gravity, to directly probe space-time structure down to the minuscule Planck scale, by constraining or measuring a first-order dispersion relation for light in vacuo. This is obtained by detecting delays between photons of different energies in the prompt emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts.

Spectral properties of gamma-ray bursts observed by the Suzaku wide-band all-sky monitor

We have systematically studied the spectral properties of 302 localized gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) observed by the Suzaku wide-band all-sky monitor (WAM) from 2005 August to 2010 December. The energy spectra in the 100–5000 keV range integrated over the entire emission and the 1 s peak were fitted by three models: a single power law, a power law with an exponential cutoff (CPL), and the GRB Band function (GRB). Most of the burst spectra were well fitted by a single power law. The average photon index α was −2.11 and −1.73 for long and short bursts, respectively. For the CPL and GRB models, the low-energy and high-energy photon indices (α and β) for the entire emission spectra were consistent with previous measurements. The averages of the α and β were −0.90 and −2.65 for long-duration GRBs, while the average α was −0.55 and the β was not well constrained for short-duration GRBs. However, the average peak energy Epeak was 645 and 1286 keV for long- and short-duration GRBs respectively, which are higher than previous Fermi/GBM measurements (285 keV and 736 keV). The α and Epeak of the 1 s peak spectra were larger, i.e., the spectra were harder, than the total fluence spectra. Spectral simulations based on Fermi-GBM results suggest that the higher Epeaks measured by the Suzaku WAM could be due to detector selection bias, mainly caused by the limited energy range above 100 keV.

Anomalous outbursts of H 1743-322

Using soft (1.5–3 keV) and hard (3–12 keV) photon counts of All Sky Monitor (ASM) in Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite, we have proposed recently that there is a significant time lag between the infall time-scales of two components in the Two-Component Advective Flow paradigm, where a standard slow moving Keplerian disc is surrounded by a fast moving halo. The time lag is clearly due to the difference in viscosity in the flow components and the size of the Keplerian disc may be considered to be proportional to this arrival time lag. In this paper, using RXTE/ASM (1.5–12 keV) data, we examine eight successive outbursts of the low-mass X-ray binary H 1743-322 since 2003 from a new perspective. The day-to-day temporal evolution of a dynamic photon index, Θ, as well as its cross-correlation with the soft and hard energy fluxes show that the aforesaid time lag was the longest during the brightest outburst of 2003 – thereby indicating its largest Keplerian disc. The disc size diminished thereafter during subsequent weaker outbursts. Moreover, Θ decides spectral transitions of any outburst. We show from the behaviour of Θ alone that the outburst of October 2008 was anomalous while the outburst of 2003 was twin (anomalous + normal). In fact, each normal outburst was either preceded or followed by an otherwise premature outburst showing different degrees of anomaly. This makes H 1743-322 an enigmatic source and a subject of further study.