Resolving GRB Light Curves

• Activity Number: 47
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Sunday, August 3, 2014 : 4:00 PM to 5:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Bayesian Statistical Science
• Author(s): Robert L. Wolpert*+ and Mary Elizabeth L. Broadbent and Thomas J. Loredo
• Companies: Duke University and Duke University and Cornell University
• Keywords: LARK ; Levy

Abstract

Gamma Ray Bursts, the most luminous events ever observed, are now known to have extragalactic origin billions of light-years from Earth. Each burst, lasting from a second or two up to a few minutes, comprises an uncertain number of individual pulses whose genesis is not well understood. Modeling the number of pulses and features of their shapes leads to multimodality both from the label-switching problem and from the fact that each feature in the GRB light curve may be represented as either a single pulse or a sum of two or more pulses. We build and explore families of pulse shapes, and Bayesian hierarchical models based on the Levy Adaptive Regression Kernel (or "LARK") approach to explore these fascinating astronomical phenomena.