Explaining the Gamma Ray Burst Lag/Luminosity and Variability/Luminosity Relations

Abstract

Two different luminosity indicators have been recently proposed for Gamma Ray Bursts that use the lag between light curve peaks with hard and soft photons as well as the variability ('spikiness') of the burst light curve. Schaefer, Deng, & Band have proven that both of these luminosity indicators are valid by finding a lag/variability relation for 112 BATSE bursts. Here, I provide simple and general explanations for both indicators. The lag/luminosity relation is a consequence of conservation of energy when radiative cooling dominates. High luminosity bursts cool rapidly so the lag between when hard and soft photons peak is short, while low luminosity bursts cool slowly so the lag is long. The variability/luminosity relation arises within internal shock models because the luminosity and variability both scale as strong functions of the bulk relativistic motion of the jet, Gamma. With luminosity roughly proportional to Gamma^5 and variability scaling as Gamma^2, we get the luminosity being correlated to variability just as the observed power law.