From the earliest pulses to the latest flares in long gamma-ray bursts

¹ Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy
² Dipartimento di Fisica G. Occhialini, Università di Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 3, 20126 Milano, Italy
e-mail: m.ronchi26@campus.unimib.it
³ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via E. Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate, Italy

Received: 9 November 2017
Accepted: 11 March 2018

Abstract

The prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts extends from the early pulses observed in γ-rays (>15 keV) to very late flares of X-ray photons (0.3–10 keV). The duration of prompt γ-ray pulses is rather constant, while the width of X-ray flares correlates with their peak time, suggesting a possibly different origin. However, pulses and flares have similar spectral properties. Considering internal and external shock scenarios, we derive how the energy and duration of pulses scale with their time of occurrence, and we compare this with observations. The absence of an observed correlation between the prompt emission pulse duration and its time of occurrence favours an “internal” origin and confirms earlier results. We show that the energetic and temporal properties of X-ray flares are also consistent with being produced by internal shocks between slow fireballs with a small contrast between their bulk Lorentz factors. These results relax the requirement of a long-lasting central engine to explain the latest X-ray flares.