The intrinsic luminosity–decay correlation in subsamples of GRB X-ray afterglows

Clicks: 5
ID: 325808
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #211 of 913 articles by views in monthly notices of the royal astronomical society

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 913 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract The intrinsic luminosity–decay correlation in gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows, between the early-time luminosity and the average rate of decay past this time, has previously been observed in the radio, optical/UV, X-ray and GeV wavebands and quantitatively shows that more luminous afterglows tend to have higher average rates of decay. We have compiled an updated sample of 427 X-ray afterglows with measured redshifts, observed with Swift/XRT over 20 years. For each GRB, we measure the luminosity at 200 seconds in the rest frame, LX, 200s, and the average rate of decay from this time, αX, >200s. We find these parameters are correlated with a Spearman’s rank coefficient (Rsp) of 0.54 ± 0.04 at a significance of ≥3σ and a linear regression slope of 0.18 ± 0.02. We separate our sample into subsamples, including 395 long GRBs (LGRBs) and 32 short GRBs (SGRBs) and find evidence of the LX, 200s–αX, >200s correlation at a significance of ≥3σ in LGRBs but not in SGRBs, consistent with previous studies. In a subsample of 102 LGRBs with well-sampled light curves and late end times, we find that scatter in the correlation is significantly reduced and the strength increases to Rsp = 0.80 ± 0.04 whilst the slope remains consistent with the full sample. We discuss our results and, briefly, their potential implications on constraining the cause of the correlation. Possible causes include geometric effects due to the angle between the observer and the jet-axis, or some mechanism that regulates the rate at which energy is released by the GRB central engine.
Reference Key
openalex_W7203952469 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Samuel P. R. Shilling, S. R. Oates, J L Racusin, B Cenko, R Gupta, P Nuessle, M Smith, Gavin P. Lamb, C Turnbull
Journal monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stag1589
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag1589
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.