Multiple Component Analysis of Time Resolved Spectra of GRB041006: A Clue to the Nature of Underlying Soft Component of GRBs

TL;DR

This study analyzes the time-resolved spectra of GRB 041006, revealing two distinct emission components with different origins, one likely from internal shocks and the other from a thermal photosphere, providing insights into GRB emission mechanisms.

Contribution

The paper introduces a method to decompose GRB spectra into multiple components and classifies them based on spectral and temporal features, offering new understanding of GRB emission origins.

Findings

Identified two spectral components with distinct temporal behaviors.

The soft component may originate from a photosphere with a radius of about 4.4 million km.

The hard component is consistent with internal-shock emission.

Abstract

GRB 041006 was detected by HETE-2 at 12:18:08 UT on 06 October 2004. This GRB displays a soft X-ray emission, a precursor before the onset of the main event, and also a soft X-ray tail after the end of the main peak. The light curves in four different energy bands display different features; At higher energy bands several peaks are seen in the light curve, while at lower energy bands a single broader bump dominates. It is expected that these different features are the result of a mixture of several components each of which has different energetics and variability. To reveal the nature of each component, we analysed the time resolved spectra and they are successfully resolved into several components. We also found that these components can be classified into two distinct classes; One is a component which has an exponential decay of $E_{p}$ with a characteristic timescale shorter than $\sim$ 30 sec, and its spectrum is well represented by a broken power law function, which is frequently observed in many prompt GRB emissions, so it should have an internal-shock origin. Another is a component whose $E_{p}$ is almost unchanged with characteristic timescale longer than $\sim$ 60 sec, and shows a very soft emission and slower variability. The spectrum of the soft component is characterized by either a broken power law or a black body spectrum. This component might originate from a relatively wider and lower velocity jet or a photosphere of the fireball. By assuming that the soft component is a thermal emission, the radiation radius is initially $4.4 \times 10^{6}$ km, which is a typical radius of a blue supergiant, and its expansion velocity is $2.4 \times 10^{5}$ km/s in the source frame.