GRB 170817A: a short GRB seen off-axis

Abstract

The angular distribution of GRB jets is not yet clear. The observed luminosity of GRB 170817A is the lowest among all known short GRBs, which is best explained by the fact that our line of sight is outside of the jet opening angle, $\theta_{obs}$ $>$ $\theta_j$, where $\theta_{obs}$ is the angle between our line of sight and jet axis. Inferred by gravitational wave observations, as well as radio and X-ray afterglow modeling of GRB 170817A, it is likely that $\theta_{obs}$ $\sim$ 20$^{\circ}$ -- 28$^{\circ}$. In this work, we quantitatively consider two scenarios of angular energy distribution of GRB ejecta: top-hat jet, and structured jet with a power law index $s$. For top-hat jet model, we get a large $\theta_j$ (e.g., $\theta_{j}$$>$$10^{\circ}$), a rather high local (i.e., z$<$0.01) short GRB rate $\sim$8--15$\times10^3$ $Gpc^{-3}$$yr^{-1}$ (estimated 90$\sim$1850 $ Gpc^{-3}$$yr^{-1}$ in Fong et al. 2015) and an extremely high $E_{peak,0}$(on-axis,rest-frame)$>$7.5$\times10^4$keV($\sim$500keV for typical short GRB). For structured jet model, we use $\theta_{obs}$ to give limits on $s$ and $\theta_{j}$ for a typical on-axis luminosity short GRB (e.g., $10^{49}$ erg s$^{-1}$$\sim$$10^{51}$ erg s$^{-1}$), and a low on-axis luminosity case (e.g., $10^{49}$ erg s$^{-1}$) gives more reasonable values of $s$. A structured jet model is more feasible for GRB 170817A than a top-hat jet model, due to the rather high local short GRB rate and the extremely high on-axis $E_{peak,0}$ almost rules out the top-hat jet model. GRB 170817A is likely a low on-axis luminosity GRB ($10^{49}$ erg s$^{-1}$) with a structured jet.