| BZs >gnuplot.ps


Acta Polytechnica Vol. 51 No. 2/2011

Cosmology and the Subgroups of Gamma-ray Bursts

A. Mészáros, J. Ř́ıpa, L. G. Balázs, Z. Bagoly, P. Veres, I. Horváth

Abstract

Both short and intermediate gamma-ray bursts are distributed anisotropically in the sky (Mészáros, A. et al. ApJ, 539,
98 (2000), Vavrek, R. et al. MNRAS, 391, 1741 (2008)). Hence, in the redshift range, where these bursts take place,
the cosmological principle is in doubt. It has already been noted that short bursts should be mainly at redshifts smaller
than one (Mészáros, A. et al. Gamma-ray burst: Sixth Huntsville Symp., AIP, Vol. 1133, 483 (2009); Mészáros, A. et
al. Baltic Astron., 18, 293 (2009)). Here we show that intermediate bursts should be at redshifts up to three.

Introduction
In several papers, the authors have shown that
there are three subgroups of gamma-ray bursts
(GRBs); see Horváth, I. et al, ApJ, 713, 552 (2010)
and the references therein. The three subgroups
are shown in Figures 1–3 for different instruments
(BATSE on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observa-
tory, http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/cgro/batse/;
RHESSI satellite, http://science.nasa.gov/missions/
rhessi/; Swift satellite, http://heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/
swift/swiftsc.html).

-0.5

 0

 0.5

 1

 1.5

-1.5 -1 -0.5  0  0.5  1  1.5  2  2.5

lo
g
 H

3
2

log T90

Fig. 1: Three subgroups of BATSEGRBs separated with
respect to duration and hardness. T90 is in seconds; for
definitions of hardness, durationT90 and formore details
see Horváth et al.: A & A, 447, 23 (2006)

Angular distribution of the
BATSE GRBs

The biggest number of detected GRBs is in the
BATSE database. If the cosmological principle holds,
then they should be distributed isotropically in the
sky. In other words, these bursts may well serve as

a test of isotropical distribution. These sky distribu-
tions are shown in Figures 4–6.

Fig. 2: Three similar subgroups of RHESSI GRBs. T90
is in seconds; Ř́ıpa et al.: A & A, 498, 399 (2009)

−1 0 1 2

−
0
.2

0
.0

0
.2

0
.4

logT90

lo
g
H

R

Fig. 3: Three similar subgroups of Swift GRBs. T90 is in
seconds; Horváth, I. et al.: ApJ, 713, 552 (2010)

82



Acta Polytechnica Vol. 51 No. 2/2011

0 360180

90

-90

short

Fig. 4: Celestial distribution of short BATSE GRBs.
These short GRBs are not distributed isotropically;
Vavrek, R. et al.: MNRAS, 391, 1741 (2008)

0 360180

90

-90

medium

Fig. 5: Celestial distribution of intermediate BATSE
GRBs. They are also not distributed isotropically;
Mészáros, A. et al.: ApJ, 539, 98 (2000); Vavrek, R. et
al.: MNRAS, 391, 1741 (2008)

0 360180

90

-90

long

Fig. 6: Celestial distribution of longBATSEGRBs. Long
GRBs seem to be distributed isotropically; Vavrek, R. et
al.: MNRAS, 391, 1741 (2008)

Redshifts of short and
intermediate GRBs

In two previous papers it was already suggested that
short GRBs are mainly at z < 1 (z is the red-
shift); Mészáros, A. et al.: Gamma-ray burst: Sixth
Huntsville Symp., AIP, Vol. 1133, 483 (2009);
Mészáros, A. et al.: Baltic Astron., 18, 293 (2009).
Hence, up to z ∼ 1 the cosmological principle is in
doubt.

In this paper we have also acquired the red-
shifts of intermediate GRBs (from the Swift satellite;
Horváth, I.: et al, ApJ, 713, 552 (2010)). The red-
shifts of known Swift GRBs are shown in Figure 7.
It is seen that these redshifts are up to z ∼ 3.

 0

 0.1

 0.2

 0.3

 0.4

 0.5

 0.6

 0.7

 0.8

 0.9

 1

 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7

z

Fig. 7: Redshift distributions of Swift GRBs (short
GRBs=solid line; intermediateGRBs=dashed line; long
GRBs=dotted line). Intermediate GRBs are at even
higher redshifts than short ones; Horváth, I. et al.: ApJ,
713, 552 (2010)

Conclusion
Of course, it is not fully necessary that the redshifts
of intermediate GRBs from two different experiments
(BATSE vs. Swift) are the same in the statistical
sense. However, keeping this eventuality in mind, it
seems that anisotropies exist up to z ∼ 3 in the spa-
tial distribution of GRBs.

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by OTKA grant K77795,
by Grant Agency of the Czech Republic grants
No. 205/08/H005 and P209/10/0734, by project SVV
261301 of Charles University in Prague, and by Re-
search Program MSM0021620860 of the Ministry of
Education of the Czech Republic.

References

[1] Horváth, I., et al.: A & A, 447, 23 (2006).

83



Acta Polytechnica Vol. 51 No. 2/2011

[2] Horváth, I., et al.: ApJ, 713, 552 (2010).

[3] http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/cgro/batse/

[4] Mészáros, A., et al.: ApJ, 539, 98 (2000).

[5] Mészáros, A., et al.: Gamma-ray burst: Sixth
Huntsville Symp., AIP, Vol. 1133, 483 (2009).

[6] Mészáros, A., et al.: Baltic Astron., 18, 293
(2009).

[7] Řı́pa, J., et al.: A & A, 498, 399 (2009).

[8] http://heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/swiftsc.html.

[9] Vavrek, R., et al.: MNRAS, 391, 1741 (2008).

Attila Mészáros
E-mail: meszaros@cesnet.cz
Charles University
Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
Astronomical Institute
V Holešovičkách 2, 180 00 Prague 8, Czech Republic

Jakub Řı́pa
E-mail: ripa@sirrah.troja.mff.cuni.cz
Charles University
Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
Astronomical Institute
V Holešovičkách 2, 180 00 Prague 8, Czech Republic

Lajos G. Balázs
E-mail: balazs@konkoly.hu
Konkoly Observatory
PO BOX 67, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary

Zsolt Bagoly
E-mail: zsolt@yela.elte.hu
Lab. for Information Technology
Eötvös University
Pázmány P. s. 1/A, H-1518 Budapest, Hungary

Péter Veres
E-mail: veresp@elte.hu
Lab. for Information Technology
Eötvös University
Pázmány P. s. 1/A, H-1518 Budapest, Hungary

István Horváth
E-mail: Horvath.Istvan@zmne.hu
Dept. of Physics
Bolyai Military University
H-1581 Budapest, POB 15, Hungary

84