GRB Cosmology and Self-organized Criticality in GRBs

TL;DR

This paper reviews the role of gamma-ray bursts in cosmology, discusses the statistical properties of X-ray flares in GRBs, and suggests magnetic reconnection as a common mechanism with solar flares.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of GRB cosmology and presents new statistical analysis of X-ray flares, highlighting their possible magnetic origin.

Findings

X-ray flare energy, duration, and waiting time distributions are similar to solar flares.

The similarity suggests magnetic reconnection as the underlying mechanism.

GRBs can be used to study early universe properties.

Abstract

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which have isotropic energy up to $10^{54}$ erg, would be the ideal tool to study the properties of early universe: including dark energy, star formation rate, and the metal enrichment history of the Universe. We will briefly review the progress on the field of GRB cosmology. Meanwhile, X-ray flares, which may have important clues to the central engine, are common phenomena in the GRB afterglows. We present statistical results of X-ray flares, i.e., energy, duration time and waiting time distributions, and compare the results with solar flares. The similarity between the two kinds of flares are found, which may indicates that the physical mechanism of GRB X-ray flares is magnetic reconnection.