Summary
This study investigates the population and detectability of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) emerging from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) disks. The researchers employed Monte Carlo methods, coupled with models for GRB electromagnetic emission in extremely dense media, to simulate the cosmological occurrence of both long and short GRBs within AGN disks.
Highlights
- The study uses two widely used models for AGN disks: SG and TQM.
- The researchers considered two extreme cases for the propagation of the radiation: completely undiffused and fully diffused.
- The intrinsic prompt and afterglow emission is calculated based on local disk properties.
- The detectability of GRBs is investigated in various energy bands, including gamma-ray, X-ray, optical, and radio.
- The study finds that the TQM model favors detectability across a wider range of wavelengths, especially in the X-ray band.
- The SG model results in suppressed detectability, particularly in the diffused scenario.
- The researchers expect to observe GRBs mostly from low redshifts and AGN disks with large SMBH masses.
Key Insights
- The study highlights the crucial dependence of GRB detectability on disk models, with the SG disk environments amplifying prompt emission through higher densities, and the TQM environments providing a broader wavelength range of detectable signals due to their relatively lower optical depths.
- The researchers note that the differences between the two models are so consequential that it might be possible to use even a few GRB detections to learn about the AGN disk structure.
- The study finds that the T distributions of both long and short GRBs peak at longer times compared to their low-density, galactic counterparts, which can result in intrinsically short GRBs being mis-classified as long, and typically long GRBs being mis-classified as very long.
- The researchers expect that the prompt emission has a similar probability to emerge from various regions of the disk regardless of the disk model.
- The study highlights the importance of considering the disk structure and radiation propagation when investigating the population and detectability of GRBs from AGN disks.
- The researchers note that their results are provided in terms of probability distributions, allowing them to factor out the dependence on the absolute number of stars and compact objects in AGN disks, which are uncertain quantities.
- The study suggests that the detection of GRBs from AGN disks could provide constraints on the numbers of stars and compact objects in them, and refine the criteria for identifying these AGN-hosted GRBs and disentangling them from the broader transient population.
Mindmap
Citation
Kang, H. D., Perna, R., Lazzati, D., & Wang, Y.-H. (2024). The Cosmological Population of Gamma-Ray Bursts from the Disks of Active Galactic Nuclei (Version 1). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/ARXIV.2412.17714