ARGO-YBJ constraints on very high energy emission from GRBs

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the ARGO-YBJ detector's ability to detect very high energy gamma-ray emission from gamma-ray bursts, setting upper limits on fluence for 26 GRBs within its field of view over several years.

Contribution

It provides the first sensitivity estimates and fluence upper limits for GRBs using the ARGO-YBJ detector in the 10 GeV to 1 TeV energy range.

Findings

Upper limits to fluence for 26 GRBs were established.

The detector's sensitivity was characterized for high-energy GRB detection.

No significant high-energy emission was detected from the analyzed GRBs.

Abstract

The ARGO-YBJ (Astrophysical Radiation Ground-based Observatory at YangBaJing) experiment is designed for very high energy $\gamma$-astronomy and cosmic ray researches. Due to the full coverage of a large area ($5600 m^2$) with resistive plate chambers at a very high altitude (4300 m a.s.l.), the ARGO-YBJ detector is used to search for transient phenomena, such as Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Because the ARGO-YBJ detector has a large field of view ($\sim$2 sr) and is operated with a high duty cycle ($>$90%), it is well suited for GRB surveying and can be operated in searches for high energy GRBs following alarms set by satellite-borne observations at lower energies. In this paper, the sensitivity of the ARGO-YBJ detector for GRB detection is estimated. Upper limits to fluence with 99% confidence level for 26 GRBs inside the field of view from June 2006 to January 2009 are set in the two energy ranges 10$-$100 GeV and 10 GeV$-$1 TeV.