The E_peak – E_iso relation revisited with Fermi GRBs

Resolving a long-standing debate?^⋆

¹ Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, IRAP, 31400 Toulouse, France
e-mail: vincent.heussaff@irap.omp.eu
² CNRS, IRAP, 14 avenue Édouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
³ LAPP, Université de Savoie, CNRS/IN2P3, 9 chemin de Bellevue, BP 110, 74941 Annecy-le-Vieux, France

Received: 21 March 2013
Accepted: 17 July 2013

Abstract

Aims. We used a sample of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by Fermi and Swift to reanalyze the correlation discovered by Amati et al. (2002, A&A, 390, 81) between E_pi, the peak energy of the prompt GRB emission, and E_iso, the energy released by the GRB assuming isotropic emission. This correlation has been disputed by various authors, and our aim is to assess whether it is an intrinsic GRB property or the consequence of selection effects.

Methods. We constructed a sample of Fermi GRBs with homogeneous selection criteria, and we studied their distribution in the E_pi – E_iso plane. Our sample is made of 43 GRBs with a redshift and 243 GRBs without a redshift. We show that GRBs with a redshift follow a broad E_pi – E_iso relation, while GRBs without a redshift show several outliers. We use these samples to discuss the impact of selection effects associated with GRB detection and with redshift measurement.

Results. We find that the E_pi – E_iso relation is partly due to intrinsic GRB properties and partly due to selection effects. The lower right boundary of the E_pi – E_iso relation stems from a true lack of luminous GRBs with low E_pi. In contrast, the upper left boundary is attributed to selection effects acting against the detection GRBs with low E_iso and large E_pi that appear to have a lower signal-to-noise ratio. In addition, we demonstrate that GRBs with and without a redshift follow different distributions in the E_pi – E_iso plane. GRBs with a redshift are concentrated near the lower right boundary of the E_pi – E_iso relation. This suggests that it is easier to measure the redshift of GRBs close to the lower E_pi – E_iso boundary and that GRBs with a redshift follow the Amati relation better than the general population. In this context, we attribute the controversy about the reality of the Amati relation to the complex nature of this relation resulting from the combination of a true physical boundary and biases favoring the detection and the measurement of the redshift of GRBs located close to this boundary.