Magnetar Giant Flare Originated GRB 200415A: Transient GeV emission, Time-Resolved $\rm E_p~ -~L_{iso}$ Correlation, and Implications

TL;DR

This paper investigates the transient GeV emission and spectral evolution of the giant flare candidate GRB 200415A, revealing insights into its outflow composition and emission mechanisms through time-resolved spectral analysis.

Contribution

It provides the first detection of transient GeV emission from GRB 200415A and analyzes its spectral correlations, supporting a baryonic poor outflow origin.

Findings

Transient GeV emission observed only once.

Correlation between $E_p$ and $F_p$ or $E_p$ and $L_{iso}$ supports baryonic poor outflow.

Spectral evolution suggests intrinsic injection process during prompt emission.

Abstract

Giant flares (GFs) are unusual bursts from soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) that release an enormous amount of energy in a fraction of a second. The afterglow emission of these SGR-GFs or GF candidates is a highly beneficial means of discerning their composition, relativistic speed, and emission mechanisms. GRB 200415A is a recent GF candidate observed in a direction coincident with the nearby Sculptor galaxy at 3.5 Mpc. In this work, we searched for transient gamma-ray emission in past observations by Fermi-LAT in the direction of GRB 200415A. These observations confirm that GRB 200415A is observed as a transient GeV source only once. A pure pair-plasma fireball cannot provide the required energy for the interpretation of GeV afterglow emission and a baryonic poor outflow is additionally needed to explain the afterglow emission. A baryonic rich outflow is also viable, as it can explain the variability and observed quasi-thermal spectrum of the prompt emission if dissipation is happening below the photosphere via internal shocks. Using the peak energy ($E_p$) of the time-resolved prompt emission spectra and their fluxes ($F_p$), we found correlation between $E_p$ and $F_p$ or $E_p$ and isotropic luminosity $L_{\rm iso}$ for GRB 200415A. This supports the intrinsic nature of $E_p$-$E_{\rm iso}$ correlation found in SGRs-GFs, hence favoring a baryonic poor outflow. Our results also indicate a different mechanism at work during the initial spike, and that the evolution of the prompt emission spectral properties in this outflow would be intrinsically due to the injection process.