Distinction of groups of gamma-ray bursts in the BATSE catalog through fuzzy clustering

TL;DR

This paper applies fuzzy clustering to the BATSE gamma-ray burst catalog to investigate the existence of multiple groups, confirming the traditional three groups and questioning the presence of five groups suggested by recent studies.

Contribution

It provides a detailed fuzzy clustering analysis that supports the three-group classification of gamma-ray bursts over the proposed five-group model.

Findings

Supports the traditional three-group classification of gamma-ray bursts

Challenges the recent claim of five distinct groups

Uses fuzzy clustering to analyze individual burst memberships

Abstract

In search for the possible astrophysical sources behind origination of the diverse gamma-ray bursts, cluster analyses are performed to find homogeneous groups, which discover an intermediate group other than the conventional short and long bursts. However, very recently, few studies indicate a possibility of the existence of more than three (namely five) groups. Therefore, in this paper, fuzzy clustering is conducted on the gamma-ray bursts from the final 'Burst and Transient Source Experiment' catalog to cross-check the significance of these new groups. Meticulous study on individual bursts based on their memberships in the fuzzy clusters confirms the previously well-known three groups against the newly found five.