The Classification and Formation Rate of Swift/BAT Gamma-Ray Bursts

Abstract

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are usually classified into long/short categories according to their durations, but controversy still exists in this aspect. Here we reexamine the long/short classification of GRBs and further compare the cosmological distribution and evolution of each potential subclass. A large number of Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) GRBs are analyzed in this study. The Gaussian mixture model is used to fit the duration distribution as well as the joint distribution of duration and hardness ratio, and the Akaike and Bayesian information criteria are adopted to assess the goodness of fit. It is found that three Gaussian components can better fit both the univariate and bivariate distributions, indicating that there are three subclasses in the Swift/BAT GRBs, namely, short, intermediate, and long subclasses. The nonparametric Efron–Petrosian and Lynden-Bell's c− methods are used to derive the luminosity function and formation rate from the truncated data of bursts with known redshift in each subclass. It is found that the luminosity distributions and birth rates of the three subclasses are different, further supporting the existence of the intermediate subclass in the Swift/BAT GRBs.