The Optical Luminosity Function of Gamma-Ray Bursts Deduced from ROTSE-III Observations
Abstract
We present the optical luminosity function (LF) of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) estimated from a uniform sample of 58 GRBs from observations with the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment III (ROTSE-III). Our GRB sample is divided into two sub-samples: detected afterglows (18 GRBs) and those with upper limits (40 GRBs). We derive R-band fluxes for these two sub-samples 100 s after the onset of the burst. The optical LFs at 100 s are fitted by assuming that the co-moving GRB rate traces the star formation rate. While fitting the optical LFs using Monte Carlo simulations, we take into account the detection function of ROTSE-III. We find that the cumulative distribution of optical emission at 100 s is well described by an exponential rise and power-law decay, a broken power law,and Schechter LFs. A single power-law (SPL) LF, on the other hand, is ruled out with high confidence.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- November 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0004-637X/795/2/103
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1409.4189
- Bibcode:
- 2014ApJ...795..103C
- Keywords:
-
- gamma-ray burst: general;
- methods: statistical;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- 26 pages, 3 figures, ApJ accepted