On the detection of high-frequency oscillations in short gamma-ray bursts

• Published in: Astronomische Nachrichten Vol. 330; no. 4; pp. 404 - 410
• Main Authors: Zhilyaev, B.E., Dubinovska, D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin WILEY-VCH Verlag 01.05.2009; WILEY‐VCH Verlag
• Subjects: gamma rays: bursts; methods: statistical
• ISSN: 0004-6337; 1521-3994
• DOI: 10.1002/asna.200711135

In this work we present the results of an investigation aimed at a search for an oscillatory phenomenon during short gamma‐ray bursts. The wavelet technique, used for this analysis, is applied to the data from the BATSE 3B catalogue. We have detected oscillations, which periods are found to be in the milliseconds range and their amplitudes up to dozens of percents. A possible scenario for such a phenomenon is the coalescence of stellar‐mass black holes and neutron stars. During the coalescence process the matter orbiting the black hole produces rapid, periodic phenomena. Such system will also emit gravitational waves which cause the orbital radius to decrease and leads to the emission of a chirp of radiation. Estimates lead to a timescale of milliseconds for the coalescence process and oscillation frequencies of hundreds of Hz. The gamma‐ray bursts considered in this paper, show both frequencies and survival times of oscillations close to the mentioned values. A chirp phenomenon is also present. We therefore argue in favor of the black hole – neutron star coalescence as a scenario for the production of short gamma‐ray bursts (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)