Giant X-ray and optical Bump in GRBs: evidence for fall-back accretion model

TL;DR

This paper presents evidence that giant X-ray and optical bumps in some long GRBs are caused by fall-back accretion of progenitor envelope material, supported by a systematic search and modeling of Swift GRB data.

Contribution

It systematically identifies new long GRB candidates with giant bumps and demonstrates that a fall-back accretion model explains these features within a consistent parameter space.

Findings

19 new candidate GRBs with giant bumps identified

Fall-back radius around 10^{10}-10^{12} cm consistent with Wolf-Rayet stars

Accretion rates range from 10^{-11} to 10^{-4} solar masses per second

Abstract

The successful operation of dedicated detectors has brought us valuable information for understanding the central engine and the progenitor of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). For instance, the giant X-ray and optical bumps found in some long-duration GRBs (e.g. GRBs 121027A and 111209A) imply that some extended central engine activities, such as the late X-ray flares, are likely due to the fall-back of progenitor envelope materials. Here we systemically search for long GRBs that consist of a giant X-ray or optical bump from the Swift GRB sample, and eventually we find 19 new possible candidates. The fall-back accretion model could well interpret the X-ray and optical bump for all candidates within a reasonable parameter space. Six candidates showing simultaneous bump signatures in both X-ray and optical observations, which could be well fitted at the same time when scaling down the X-ray flux into optical by one order of magnitude, are consistent with the standard $F_{\nu}\propto\nu^{1/3}$ synchrotron spectrum. The typical fall-back radius is distributed around $10^{10}\rm-10^{12}$ cm, which is consistent with the typical radius of a Wolf-Rayet star. The peak fall-back accretion rate is in the range of $\sim 10^{-11}-10^{-4}M_{\odot} \ \text{s} ^{-1}$ at time $\sim10^{2}- 10^{5}~\rm s$, which is relatively easy to fulfill as long as the progenitor's metallicity is not too high. Combined with the sample we found, future studies of the mass supply rate for the progenitors with different mass, metallicity, and angular momentum distribution would help us to better constrain the progenitor properties of long GRBs.