Quantum-spacetime scenarios and soft spectral lags of the remarkable GRB130427A

TL;DR

This study analyzes high-energy gamma-ray data from GRB130427A to identify spectral lags that could indicate quantum-spacetime effects, finding evidence of energy-dependent timing that may also be intrinsic to GRBs.

Contribution

The paper presents the first detailed analysis of spectral lags in GRB130427A using Fermi LAT data, exploring their potential quantum-spacetime origin and comparing with other GRBs.

Findings

Evidence of systematic soft spectral lags with linear energy dependence.

Detection of early hard minibursts within the long burst.

Possible redshift dependence of spectral lag effects.

Abstract

We process the Fermi LAT data on GRB130427A using the Fermi Science Tools, and we summarize some of the key facts that render this observation truly remarkable, especially concerning the quality of information on high-energy emission by GRBs. We then exploit this richness for a search of spectral lags, of the type that has been recently of interest for its relevance in quantum-spacetime research. We do find some evidence of systematic soft spectral lags: when confining the analysis to photons of energies greater than 5 GeV there is an early hard development of minibursts within this long burst. The effect turns out to be well characterized quantitatively by a linear dependence, within such a miniburst, of the detection time on energy. With the guidance of our findings for GRB130427A we can then recognize that some support for these features is noticeable also in earlier Fermi-LAT GRBs, particularly for the presence of hard minibursts whose onset is marked by the highest-energy photon observed for the GRB. A comparison of these features for GRBs at different redshifts provides some encouragement for a redshift dependence of the effects of the type expected for a quantum-spacetime interpretation, but other aspects of the analysis appear to invite the interpretation as intrinsic properties of GRBs.