Are there cosmological evolution trends on Gamma-Ray Burst features?

Abstract

The variability of gamma-ray burst (GRB) is thought to be correlated with its absolute peak luminosity, and this relation had been used to derive an estimate of the redshifts of GRBs. Recently Amati et al. presented the results of spectral and energetic properties of several GRBs with known redshifts. Here we analyse the properties of two group GRBs, one group with known redshift from afterglow observation, and another group with redshift derived from the luminosity - variability relation. We study the redshift dependence of various GRBs features in their cosmological rest frames, including the burst duration, the isotropic luminosity and radiated energy, and the peak energy $E_p$ of $νF_ν$ spectra. We find that, for these two group GRBs, their properties are all redshift dependent, i.e. their intrinsic duration, luminosity, radiated energy and peak energy $E_p$, are all correlated with the redshift, which means that there are cosmological evolution effects on gamma-ray bursts features, and this can provide an interesting clue to the nature of GRBs. If this is true, then the results also imply that the redshift derived from the luminosity - variability relation may be reliable.

Latex, 11 pages. Discussion of the selection effects have been added. Accepted for publication in MNRAS