X-ray afterglow of GRB 050712: multiple energy injections into the external shock

As indicated by observed X-ray flares, a great amount of energy can be in- termittently released from the postburst central engine of gamma-ray bursts （GRBs）. As a natural consequence, the GRB＇s external shock could be repeatedly energized. With such a multiple energy injection model, we explore the unique X-ray afterglow light curve of GRB 050712, which exhibits four shallow decay plateaus. Together with three early X-ray flares, the celatral engine of GRB 050712 is believed to have released energy at least seven times after the burst. Furthermore, we find that the ener- gies released during the four plateaus are all on the same order of magnitude, but the luminosity significantly decreased with time. These results may provide some inter- esting implications for the GRB central engine.

Shallow Decay of X-ray Afterglows in Short GRBs:Energy Injection from a Millisecond Magnetar?

With the successful launch of Swift satellite, more and more data of early X-ray afterglows from short gamma-ray bursts have been collected. Some interesting features such as unusual afterglow light curves and unexpected X-ray flares are revealed. Especially, in some cases, there is a flat segment in the X-ray afterglow light curve. Here we present a simplified model in which we believe that the flattening part is due to energy injection from the central engine. We assume that this energy injection arises from the magnetic dipole radiation of a millisecond pulsar formed after the merger of two neutron stars. We check this model with the short GRB 060313. Our numerical results suggest that energy injection from a millisecond magnetar could make part of the X-ray afterglow light curve flat.

GRB 130310A: very high peak energy and thermal emission

The special GRB 130310 A was observed by Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor and Large Area Telescope,with T90~2.4 s.With a combination of a Band function and a blackbody(BB)function,the time-resolved spectral analysis of GRB 130310 A confirmed that there is a sub-dominate thermal component in the early period(e.g.,slice T0+[4.03-4.14]s)spectrum with BB temperature(kT)being~7~5 keV,which can be interpreted as photosphere emission.The precursor of GRB 130310 A can be fitted well with a BB component with kT~45 keV,which is higher than that of the main burst.It suggests that the radiation of GRB 130310 A is in transition from thermal to non-thermal.Such a transition is an indication of the change in jet composition from a fireball to a Poynting-flux-dominated jet.A very high peak energy is obtained in the first time bin,with the peak energy E_(p) of the Band component for Band+BB and Band model being~8.5~5.2 MeV and~11.1~7.4 MeV,respectively.Afterwards,the E_(p) drops to~1 MeV.The E_(p) evolution patterns with respect to the pulses in the GRB 130310 A light curves show a hard-to-soft evolution.The interpretation of the high peak energy E_(p) within the photosphere and internal shock model is difficult.It also suggests that at least for some bursts,the Band component must invoke a non-thermal origin in the optically thin region of a GRB outflow.Assuming the redshift is z~0.1~8,the radius of the jet base r_(0)~10^(9) cm to allow(1+σ_(15))>1 in line with the calculation results of the magnetization parameter at~1015 cm(σ_(15)).However,the value of(1+σ_(15))is■1 in the zone z around 3 for r_(0)~10^(9) cm,suggesting the non-excluded possibility that the origin is from ICMART with a low value.The photosphere-internal shock seems capable of interpreting the high peak energy,which requires electron Lorentz factorγe~60 andεe~0.06.