# The Role of the BATSE Instrument Response in Creating the GRB E-Peak Distribution

## 1 The Characteristic Photon Energy of Bursts

The prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts is observed predominately at several hundred keV. This is one of the most interesting features of gamma-ray bursts, since it is not easily explained by most theories of prompt gamma-ray emission. In particular, the internal and external shock theories predict a wide variation in the characteristic gamma-ray energy both during a burst and between bursts. It is therefore imperative to know whether this is a physical characteristic of bursts, or a consequence of an instrumental effect.

In this article, we discuss the instrumental effects that arise when observing gamma-ray bursts with the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO). The primary points that affect the observed distribution function are the ability to correctly define the characteristic energy of the gamma-ray burst and the ability to trigger on a gamma-ray burst with a characteristic energy outside of the trigger energy range. These effects are discussed in §2 and §3 below. Models of simple distributions for the characteristic energy are given in §4, and their consistency with the observations is discussed in §5. We find that the observed distribution of characteristic energies cannot be explained through instrumental effects alone. A model distribution with a characteristic energy is fit to the observations to quantify the type of physical theory required by the observations. Our conclusion is that the existence of approximately the same characteristic energy for all gamma-ray burst spectra is a physical property of gamma-ray bursts that any viable theory must explain.

## 2 Defining E-Peak

One can characterize the gamma-ray burst spectrum through the E-peak value ($`E_p`$), the photon energy at which the $`\nu F_\nu `$ curve has a maximum. The distribution of such values as measured by the BATSE gamma-ray burst instrument is narrowly distributed. The standard method of modeling a gamma-ray spectrum is forward fitting. In this method, a model photon spectrum is folded through a model of the detector response matrix (DRM) to produce a count spectrum. The count spectrum is then compared to the observed spectrum, with the best fit found through $`\chi ^2`$ minimization. The photon model used in the analysis of the BATSE gamma-ray burst spectra is the gamma-ray burst spectral form, which is a 4 parameter model that produces good fits to the data. The data type used in deriving $`E_p`$ for the BATSE data set is the MER data type, which covers the spectrum with 16 channels.

To test the ability of BATSE to correctly determine the value of $`E_p`$, we generated test burst count spectra with background counts added for model spectra of a given $`E_p`$, and then went through the procedure of subtracting background and deriving the values of $`E_p`$ that provide the best fit to the test spectra. We find that the forward fitting method correctly defines the value of $`E_p`$ for $`20\text{keV}<E_p<2\text{MeV}`$. Once one is outside this range, either no value of $`E_p`$ is found, or the value that is found is at one of these two limits on $`E_p`$. Because few BATSE bursts have $`E_p`$ at $`2\text{MeV}`$, and no BATSE burst is at $`20\text{keV}`$, the misidentification of the value of $`E_p`$ for $`E_p>2\text{MeV}`$ and $`E_p<20\text{keV}`$ is inconsequential.

## 3 BATSE Triggering

The BATSE instrument triggers on a gamma-ray burst when the count rate in the trigger channels exceed an average background count rate by a preset value. Of the eight modules that comprise BATSE, at least two must be above the background rate for the burst to trigger. The triggering is done using four discriminator channels on the timescales of $`1.024\text{s}`$, $`0.256\text{s}`$, and $`0.064\text{s}`$. For most bursts, the triggering is on channels $`2+3`$, which contain counts in the $`50\text{keV}`$ to $`300\text{keV}`$ energy range.

To model the trigger of a gamma-ray burst, we ran Monte Carlo simulations of the count rates generated by a gamma-ray burst of a given normalization and value of $`E_p`$. The randomness in this simulation was in the orientation of the spacecraft relative to the gamma-ray burst and to the center of the earth. Two aspects that affect the count rate found for a burst are the orientation of all detectors to the burst, and the component of the burst scattered into the detectors from Earth’s atmosphere. One aspect this simulation did not address was the angular dependence of the background count rate. The purpose of the analysis was to determine the average count rate in the second brightest detector as a function of $`E_p`$. The result is used to relate the photon rate of a burst to the count rate in the trigger channels.

## 4 Model E-Peak Distributions

Based on the conversion of photon spectrum to count rate, one can convert model distributions in $`E_p`$ and $`N_p`$, the photon rate at $`E_p`$, into distributions in $`E_p`$ as functions of $`C_{min}`$, the minimum count rate. In doing this, we assume that the minimum count rate is high enough above the background that threshold effects are unimportant. We are also ignoring the fact that different detectors will have different background count rates. We assume that the distribution of $`N_p`$ is a broken power law similar to the peak-flux broken power law, with the power law having an index of $`1.8`$ below the break, and an index of $`5/2`$ above the break. The value at which power law index breaks in the $`N_p`$ distribution is assumed to depend on $`E_p`$ as $`E_p^2`$, which is equivalent to the statement that the total energy per unit time emitted as gamma-rays is independent of $`E_p`$ for bursts that fall on the break of the peak-flux curve. Two models for the $`E_p`$ distribution are used. The first is a power law, so that there is no characteristic value of $`E_p`$ defined by the physics. The second is a log normal curve with two power laws joined on to the wings of the distribution. This second is used to fit the observed $`E_p`$ distribution to demonstrate the extent to which the physical $`E_p`$ distribution must break to reproduce the observations.

The model distributions for a power law $`E_p`$ distribution are given in Figures 1 and 2. These curves are calculated for three different trigger energy ranges: channels $`1+2`$ ($`20\text{keV}`$$`100\text{keV}`$), channels $`2+3`$ ($`50\text{keV}`$$`300\text{keV}`$), and channels $`3+4`$ ($`>100\text{keV}`$). The power law index for the $`E_p`$ distribution is set to $`1`$. The difference between Figures 1 and 2 are in the minimum count rate. The first has a minimum count rate such that most bursts are in the $`3/2`$ portion of the cumulative peak-flux distribution, while the second has a count rate such that most bursts are on the $`0.8`$ portion of the cumulative peak-flux distribution. The effect of lowering the count rate limit is to broaden the $`E_p`$ distribution.

## 5 Fits of E-Peak Distributions

The observed $`E_p`$ distribution was fit to the power law E-peak distribution. Most bursts have low count rates, placing them below the break in the peak-flux distribution, so the low count rate model for the $`E_p`$ distribution is used. We find that the best power law index for the $`E_p`$ distribution is $`0.94\pm 0.11`$, with $`\chi ^2=444.4`$ for 8 degrees of freedom. This is clearly a poor fit to the data. This model and the observed $`E_p`$ distribution are given in Figure 3. The model distribution is much broader than the observed distribution. This demonstrates that the physical distribution of $`E_p`$ must have a characteristic value near $`200\text{keV}`$ to produce the observed distribution.

Just how narrow the physical distribution must be is demonstrated by the fit of a log normal distribution to the observations. In this distribution, the half maxima are a factor of 4 apart, and the power law tails have indexes of $`3.35`$ and $`2.58`$, so that the change in index exceeds 5. The model fit has $`\chi ^2=7.93`$ for 5 degrees of freedom, which is an excellent fit to the data. The physical distribution therefore must be very narrow to reproduce the observations. This fit also suggests that above $`1\text{MeV}`$, each decade in $`E_p`$ contains $`<10\%`$ of the bursts in the lower decade, and that below $`100\text{keV}`$, each decade contains $`<1\%`$ of the bursts in the higher decade.

## 6 Discussion

We have presented the results of our study of the BATSE instrumental effects that affect the determination of the $`E_p`$ distribution. Our results are as follows:

* Model fitting of spectra to gamma-ray burst spectra correctly gives the value of $`E_p`$ for $`20\text{keV}<E_p<2\text{MeV}`$.
* The power law model curves for the $`E_p`$ distribution for bursts that trigger on the $`50`$$`300\text{keV}`$ count energy range have maxima at $`100\text{keV}`$, and half-maxima at $`20\text{keV}`$ and $`800\text{MeV}`$.
* The power law model curves provide poor fits to the observations, because the observations are at $`10\%`$ of the peak values at the energies where the model curves have their half-maxima.
* Fitting a log normal $`E_p`$ distribution to the observations finds that the best fit is very narrow, with power law wings that differ by 5 in index.

These results demonstrate that the narrow $`E_p`$ distribution must have a physical origin. Theories of the prompt gamma-ray emission must provide an explanation for this property before they can be regarded as viable.

## Acknowledgments

This research was supported under the NASA grant NAG5-6746.

## References