Cosmological X-ray Flashes in the Off-Axis Jet Model

Abstract

The <V/Vmax> of the cosmological X-ray flashes detected by Wide Field Cameras on BeppoSAX is calculted theoretically in a simple jet model. The total emission energy from the jet is assumed to be constant. We find that if the jet opening half-angle is smaller than 0.03 radian, the theoretical <V/Vmax> is less than ~0.4, which is consistent with the recently reported observational value of 0.27+/-0.16 at the 1-sigma level. This suggests that the off-axis GRB jet with the small opening half-angle at the cosmological distance can be identified as the cosmological X-ray flash.

13 pages, 3 eps figures, ApJ in press