How does the shape of gamma-ray bursts' pulses affect the duration distribution?

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the intrinsic shape of gamma-ray burst pulses influences the observed duration distribution, suggesting that pulse asymmetry naturally explains the distribution's asymmetry without invoking additional classes or cosmological effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the asymmetry in GRB duration distribution can be explained by pulse shape and multi-pulse structure, reducing the need for extra components or cosmological explanations.

Findings

Pulse shape causes duration distribution asymmetry

Multi-pulse structure naturally explains observed asymmetry

No additional GRB classes needed to account for distribution features

Abstract

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) come in two types, short and long. The distribution of logarithmic durations of long GRBs is asymmetric rather than Gaussian. Such an asymmetry, when modelled with a mixture of Gaussian distributions, requires an introduction of an additional component, often associated with another class of GRBs. However, when modelled with inherently asymmetric distributions, there is no need for such a component. The cosmological dilation was already ruled out as a source of the asymmetry, hence its origin resides in the progenitors. GRB light curves (LCs) are usually well described by a series of fast-rise-exponential-decay pulses. A statistical analysis of ensembles of simulated LCs shows that the asymmetry is a natural consequence of the pulse shape and the multi-pulse character of the LCs.