Flares in Gamma Ray Bursts

TL;DR

This paper analyzes X-ray flares in Gamma Ray Bursts observed by Swift, comparing their characteristics to prompt emission spikes, and investigates how flare energy varies with time using a larger sample and Norris 2005 profile fitting.

Contribution

It introduces a larger sample of early GRB flares analyzed with Norris 2005 profile fitting and explores the energy-time relationship of flares using redshift data.

Findings

XRT flares share characteristics with prompt emission spikes.

Flare energy estimates are robust for redshifted samples.

Preliminary results suggest energy dependence on time for flares.

Abstract

The flare activity that is observed in GRBs soon after the prompt emission with the XRT (0.3-10 KeV) instrument on board of the Swift satellite is leading to important clues in relation to the physical characteristics of the mechanism generating the emission of energy in Gamma Ray Bursts. We will briefly refer to the results obtained with the recent analysis and and discuss the preliminary results we obtained with a new larger sample of GRBs [limited to early flares] based on fitting of the flares using the Norris 2005 profile. We find, in agreement with previous results, that XRT flares follow the main characteristics observed in Norris 2005 for the prompt emission spikes. The estimate of the flare energy for the subsample with redshift is rather robust and an attempt is made, using the redshisft sample, to estimate how the energy emitted in flares depends on time. We used a $H_0=70 km/s/Mpc$, $\Omega_\Lambda=0.7$, $\Omega_m=0.3$ cosmology.