ABSTRACT
The recent $\sim 4 \, \sigma$ Hubble constant, H0, tension is observed between the value of H0 from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). It is a decade ...since this tension is excruciating the modern astrophysical community. To shed light on this problem is key to consider probes at intermediate redshifts between SNe Ia and CMB and reduce the uncertainty on H0. Toward these goals, we fill the redshift gap by employing gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and quasars (QSOs), reaching z = 9.4 and z = 7.6, respectively, combined with baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO), and SNe Ia. To this end, we employ the ‘Dainotti GRB 3D relation’ among the rest-frame end time of the X-ray plateau emission, its corresponding luminosity, and the peak prompt luminosity, and the ‘Risaliti–Lusso’ QSO relation between ultraviolet and X-ray luminosities. We inquire the commonly adopted Gaussianity assumption on GRBs, QSOs, and BAO. With the joint sample, we fit the flat Λ Cold Dark Matter model with both the Gaussian and the newly discovered likelihoods. We also investigate the impact of the calibration assumed for Pantheon and Pantheon + SNe Ia on this analysis. Remarkably, we show that only GRBs fulfil the Gaussianity assumption. We achieve small uncertainties on the matter-density parameter ΩM and H0. We find H0 values compatible within 2σ with the one from the Tip of the Red Giant Branch. Finally, we show that the cosmological results are heavily biased against the arbitrary calibration choice for SNe Ia.
In order to investigate the formation of relativistic jets at the center of a progenitor of a gamma-ray burst (GRB), we develop a two-dimensional general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic code. We ...show that the code passes many well-known test calculations, and confirm the reliability of the code. Then we perform a numerical simulation of a collapsar using a realistic progenitor model. It is shown that a jet is launched from the center of the progenitor. The structure of the jet is similar to the previous study: a Poynting flux jet is surrounded by the funnel-wall jet. Even at the final stage of the simulation, the bulk Lorentz factor of the jet is still low, and the total energy of the jet is still as small as 1048 erg. However, we find that the energy flux per unit rest-mass flux is as high as 102 at the bottom of the jet. Thus, we conclude that the bulk Lorentz factor of the jet can be potentially high when it propagates outward. Also, as long as the duration of the activity of the central engine is long enough, the total energy of the jet can be large enough to explain the typical explosion energy of a GRB (~1051 erg). It is shown that the outgoing Poynting flux exists at the horizon around the polar region, which proves that the Blandford-Znajek mechanism is really working. However, we conclude that the jet is mainly launched by the magnetic field amplified by the gravitational collapse and differential rotation around the black hole, rather than the Blandford-Znajek mechanism.
ABSTRACT
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), can be employed as standardized candles, extending the distance ladder beyond Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia, z = 2.26). We standardize GRBs using the three-dimensional ...(3D) Fundamental Plane relation (the Dainotti relation) among the rest-frame end time of the X-ray plateau emission, its corresponding luminosity, and the peak prompt luminosity. Combining SNe Ia and GRBs, we constrain ΩM = 0.299 ± 0.009 assuming a flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology with and without correcting GRBs for selection biases and redshift evolution. Using a 3D optical Dainotti correlation, we find this sample is as efficacious in the determination of ΩM as the X-ray sample. We trimmed our GRB samples to achieve tighter planes to simulate additional GRBs. We determined how many GRBs are needed as stand-alone probes to achieve a comparable precision on ΩM to the one obtained by SNe Ia only. We reach the same error measurements derived using SNe Ia in 2011 and 2014 with 142 and 284 simulated optical GRBs, respectively, considering the error bars on the variables halved. These error limits will be reached in 2038 and in 2047, respectively. Using a doubled sample (obtained by future machine learning approaches allowing a light-curve reconstruction and the estimates of GRB redshifts when z is unknown) compared to the current sample, with error bars halved we will reach the same precision as SNe Ia in 2011 and 2014, now and in 2026, respectively. If we consider the current SNe precision, this will be reached with 390 optical GRBs by 2054.
Abstract
Collapsar disks have been proposed to be rich factories of heavy elements, but the major question of whether their outflows are neutron rich and could therefore represent significant sites ...of the rapid neutron-capture (
r
-) process or dominated by iron-group elements remains unresolved. We present the first global models of collapsars that start from a stellar progenitor and self-consistently describe the evolution of the disk, its composition, and its outflows in response to the imploding stellar mantle, using energy-dependent M1 neutrino transport and an
α
-viscosity to approximate turbulent angular-momentum transport. We find that a neutron-rich, neutrino-dominated accretion flow (NDAF) is established only marginally—either for short times or relatively low viscosities—because the disk tends to disintegrate into an advective disk already at relatively high mass-accretion rates, launching powerful outflows but preventing it from developing a hot, dense, and therefore neutron-rich core. Viscous outflows disrupt the star within ∼100 s with explosion energies close to that of hypernovae. If viscosity is ignored, a stable NDAF with disk mass of about 1
M
☉
is formed but is unable to release neutron-rich ejecta, while it produces a relatively mild explosion powered by a neutrino-driven wind blown off its surface. With ejecta electron fractions close to 0.5, all models presumably produce large amounts of
56
Ni. Our results suggest that collapsar models based on the
α
-viscosity are inefficient
r
-process sites and that genuinely magnetohydrodynamic effects may be required to generate neutron-rich outflows. A relatively weak effective viscosity generated by magnetohydrodynamic turbulence would improve the prospects for obtaining neutron-rich ejecta.
ABSTRACT
Black hole (BH) accretion discs formed in compact-object mergers or collapsars may be major sites of the rapid-neutron-capture (r-)process, but the conditions determining the electron ...fraction (Ye) remain uncertain given the complexity of neutrino transfer and angular-momentum transport. After discussing relevant weak-interaction regimes, we study the role of neutrino absorption for shaping Ye using an extensive set of simulations performed with two-moment neutrino transport and again without neutrino absorption. We vary the torus mass, BH mass and spin, and examine the impact of rest-mass and weak-magnetism corrections in the neutrino rates. We also test the dependence on the angular-momentum transport treatment by comparing axisymmetric models using the standard α-viscosity with viscous models assuming constant viscous length-scales (lt) and 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. Finally, we discuss the nucleosynthesis yields and basic kilonova properties. We find that absorption pushes Ye towards ∼0.5 outside the torus, while inside increasing the equilibrium value $Y_\mathrm{ e}^{\mathrm{eq}}$ by ∼0.05–0.2. Correspondingly, a substantial ejecta fraction is pushed above Ye = 0.25, leading to a reduced lanthanide fraction and a brighter, earlier, and bluer kilonova than without absorption. More compact tori with higher neutrino optical depth, τ, tend to have lower $Y_\mathrm{ e}^{\mathrm{eq}}$ up to τ ∼ 1–10, above which absorption becomes strong enough to reverse this trend. Disc ejecta are less (more) neutron rich when employing an lt = const. viscosity (MHD treatment). The solar-like abundance pattern found for our MHD model marginally supports collapsar discs as major r-process sites, although a strong r-process may be limited to phases of high mass-infall rates, $\dot{M}\, \, \raise0.14em\rm{\gt }\lower0.28em\rm{\sim }\, \, 2\times 10^{-2}$ M⊙ s−1.
Context.
Massive stars end their lives in catastrophic supernova (SN) explosions. Key information on the explosion processes and on the progenitor stars can be extracted from observations of ...supernova remnants (SNRs), which are the outcome of SNe. Deciphering these observations, however, is challenging because of the complex morphology of SNRs.
Aims.
We aim to link the dynamical and radiative properties of the remnant of SN 1987A to the geometrical and physical characteristics of the parent aspherical SN explosion and to the internal structure of its progenitor star.
Methods.
We performed comprehensive three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations which describe the long-term evolution of SN 1987A from the onset of the SN to the full-fledged remnant at the age of 50 years, accounting for the pre-SN structure of the progenitor star. The simulations include all physical processes relevant for the complex phases of SN evolution and for the interaction of the SNR with the highly inhomogeneous ambient environment around SN 1987A. Furthermore, the simulations follow the life cycle of elements from the synthesis in the progenitor star through the nuclear reaction network of the SN to the enrichment of the circumstellar medium as a result of the mixing of chemically homogeneous layers of ejecta. From the simulations, we synthesize observables that are to be compared with observations.
Results.
By comparing the model results with observations, we constrained the initial SN anisotropy causing Doppler shifts, observed in the emission lines of heavy elements from ejecta, and leading to the remnant evolution observed in the X-ray band in the last thirty years. In particular, we found that the high mixing of ejecta unveiled by high redshifts and broadenings of Fe II and
44
Ti lines require a highly asymmetric SN explosion channeling a significant fraction of energy along an axis that is almost lying in the plane of the central equatorial ring around SN 1987A, roughly along the line-of-sight, but with an offset of 40°, with the lobe propagating away from the observer slightly more energetic than the other. Furthermore, we found unambiguously that the observed distribution of ejecta and the dynamical and radiative properties of the SNR can be best reproduced if the structure of the progenitor star was that of a blue supergiant which had resulted from the merging of two massive stars.
Abstract
Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most explosive phenomena in the universe after the big bang. A large fraction of GRB lightcurves (LCs) shows X-ray plateaus. We perform the most comprehensive ...analysis of all GRBs (with known and unknown redshifts) with plateau emission observed by The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory from its launch until 2019 August. We fit 455 LCs showing a plateau and explore whether these LCs follow closure relations, relations between the temporal and spectral indices of the afterglow, corresponding to two distinct astrophysical environments and cooling regimes within the external forward shock (ES) model, and find that the ES model works for the majority of cases. The most favored environments are a constant-density interstellar or wind medium with slow cooling. We also confirm the existence of the fundamental plane relation between the rest-frame time and luminosity at the end of the plateau emission and the peak prompt luminosity for this enlarged sample, and test this relation on groups corresponding to the astrophysical environments of our known redshift sample. The plane becomes a crucial discriminant corresponding to these environments in terms of the best-fitting parameters and dispersions. Most GRBs for which the closure relations are fulfilled with respect to astrophysical environments have an intrinsic scatter
σ
compatible within 1
σ
of that of the “Gold” GRBs, a subset of long GRBs with relatively flat plateaus. We also find that GRBs satisfying closure relations indicating a fast cooling regime have a lower
σ
than ever previously found in literature.
We present an analysis of 123 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with known redshifts possessing an afterglow plateau phase. We reveal that
$L_{\rm a}\hbox{-}T^{*}_{\rm a}$
correlation between the X-ray ...luminosity L
a at the end of the plateau phase and the plateau duration,
$T^*_{\rm a}$
, in the GRB rest frame has a power-law slope different, within more than 2σ, from the slope of the prompt
$L_{{\rm f}}\hbox{-}T^{*}_{{\rm f}}$
correlation between the isotropic pulse peak luminosity, L
f, and the pulse duration,
$T^{*}_{{\rm f}}$
, from the time since the GRB ejection. Analogously, we show differences between the prompt and plateau phases in the energy duration distributions with the afterglow emitted energy being on average 10 per cent of the prompt emission. Moreover, the distribution of prompt pulse versus afterglow spectral indexes does not show any correlation. In the further analysis we demonstrate that the L
peak–L
a distribution, where L
peak is the peak luminosity from the start of the burst, is characterized with a considerably higher Spearman correlation coefficient, ρ = 0.79, than the one involving the averaged prompt luminosity, L
prompt–L
a, for the same GRB sample, yielding ρ = 0.60. Since some of this correlation could result from the redshift dependences of the luminosities, namely from their cosmological evolution we use the Efron–Petrosian method to reveal the intrinsic nature of this correlation. We find that a substantial part of the correlation is intrinsic. We apply a partial correlation coefficient to the new de-evolved luminosities showing that the intrinsic correlation exists.
Abstract
Currently, the Λ cold dark matter model, which relies on the existence of cold dark matter and a cosmological constant Λ, best describes the universe. However, we lack information in the ...high-redshift (
z
) region between Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia; up to
z
= 2.26) and the cosmic microwave background (
z
= 1100), an interval crucial to test cosmological models and their possible evolution. We have defined a sample of 983 quasars up to
z
= 7.54 with a reduced intrinsic dispersion
δ
= 0.007, which determines the matter density parameter Ω
M
with the same precision of SNe Ia. Although previous analysis have used quasars as cosmological tools, this is the first time that high-redshift sources, in this case quasars, as standalone cosmological probes yield such tight constraints on Ω
M
. Our results show the importance of correcting cosmological relationships for selection biases and redshift evolution and how the choice of a golden sample reduces considerably the intrinsic scatter. This proves the reliability of quasars as standard cosmological candles.
Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with a plateau phase in their X-ray afterglows obey a 3D relation, between the rest-frame time at the end of the plateau, Ta, its corresponding X-ray luminosity, La, and ...the peak luminosity in the prompt emission, Lpeak. This 3D relation identifies a GRB fundamental plane whose existence we here confirm. Here we include the most recent GRBs observed by Swift to define a "gold sample" (45 GRBs) and obtain an intrinsic scatter about the plane compatible within 1 with the previous result. We compare GRB categories, such as short GRBs with extended emission (SEE), X-ray flashes, GRBs associated with supernovae, a sample of only long-duration GRBs (132), selected from the total sample by excluding GRBs of the previous categories, and the gold sample, composed by GRBs with light curves with good data coverage and relatively flat plateaus. We find that the relation planes for each of these categories are not statistically different from the gold fundamental plane, with the exception of the SSE, which are hence identified as a physically distinct class. The gold fundamental plane has an intrinsic scatter smaller than any plane derived from the other sample categories. Thus, the distance of any particular GRB category from this plane becomes a key parameter. We computed the several category planes with Ta as a dependent parameter obtaining for each category smaller intrinsic scatters (reaching a reduction of 24% for the long GRBs). The fundamental plane is independent from several prompt and afterglow parameters.
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