Possible gamma-ray burst radio detections by the Square Kilometre Array. New perspectives

Abstract

The next generation interferometric radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which will be the most sensitive and largest radio telescope ever constructed, could greatly contribute to the detection, survey and characterization of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). By the SKA, it will be possible to perform the follow up of GRBs even for several months. This approach would be extremely useful to extend the Spectrum Energetic Distribution (SED) from the gamma to the to radio band and would increase the number of radio detectable GRBs. In principle, the SKA could help to understand the physics of GRBs by setting constraints on theoretical models. This goal could be achieved by taking into account multiple observations at different wavelengths in order to obtain a deeper insight of the sources. Here, we present an estimation of GRB radio detections, showing that the GRBs can really be observed by the SKA. The approach that we present consists in determining blind detection rates derived by a very large sample consisting of merging several GRB catalogues observed by current missions as Swift, Fermi, Agile and INTEGRAL and by previous missions as BeppoSAX, CGRO, GRANAT, HETE-2, Ulysses and Wind. The final catalogue counts 7516 distinct sources. We compute the fraction of GRBs that could be observed by the SKA at high and low frequencies, above its observable sky. Considering the planned SKA sensitivity and through an extrapolation Alan Cosimo Ruggeri Salvatore Capozziello 1 Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Napoli "Federico II", Compl. Univ. Monte S. Angelo, Via Cinthia 9, I -80126, Napoli, Italy. 2 I.N.F.N., Sez. di Napoli, Compl. Univ. Monte S. Angelo, Edificio G, Via Cintia, Napoli, Italy. 3 Gran Sasso Science Institute (INFN), Viale F. Crispi, 7, I-67100, L'Aquila, Italy. * acruggeri@na.infn.it; capozziello@na.infn.it based on previous works and observations, we deduce the minimum fluence in the range 15 -150 keV. This is the energy interval where a GRB should emit to be detectable in the radio band by the SKA. Results seem consistent with observational capabilities.

Revisiting the statistical isotropy of GRB sky distribution

“…However, subsequent works suggested otherwise for SGRBs (Balazs et al 1998;Meszaros et al 2000;Magliocchetti et al 2003;Vavrek et al 2008;Tarnopolski 2017). Moreover, there are also claims for the existence of GRB structures of ∼ 2000 Mpc at z ∼ 2 (Horvath et al 2014(Horvath et al , 2015Ruggeri & Capozziello 2016) -for a different conclusion, see also (Bernui et al 2008;Gibelyou & Huterer 2012;Li & Lin 2015;Ukwatta & Wozniak 2016;Tarnopolski 2017;Ripa & Shafieloo 2017, 2018 1 .…”

Diagnosing Circumburst Environment with Multiband Gamma-Ray Burst Radio Afterglows

“…If one can carry out radio follow-ups at more frequencies in the future, such transitions should be unveiled. Besides, the new generation of large radio telescopes, including the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) and the upcoming Square Kilometer Array (SKA), have much higher sensitivities at lower frequencies, and thus can be used to detect GRB late-time afterglows (e.g., see Li et al 2015;Zhang et al 2015;Ruggeri & Capozziello 2016), and sample more frequency bands at longer wavelengths in order to get a more complete picture of transrelativistic shock behaviors.…”

Machine learning and Kolmogorov analysis to reveal gravitational lenses

“…Particularly, the Kolmogorov analysis in addition to the problems mentioned in the Introduction can be applied to test the isotropy of sky distribution of gamma-ray bursts. That problem has been studied by various methods, not always with identical conclusions (see Ruggeri & Capozziello ( 2016); Andrade et al (2019); Ripa & Shafieloo ( 2019) and references therein), and is of remarkable cosmological importance. Image processing and machine learning algorithms are currently becoming conventional tools for astronomical datasets, to extract ever more refined information.…”