Researchers from Sabanci University in Turkey have compiled an extensive catalog of gamma-ray transients observed over an 11-year period using data from the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. This team, led by Yuki Kaneko and including Ozge Keskin, Can Gungor, Ersin Gogus, Mete Uzuner, and Aslihan M. Unsal, has developed a comprehensive database that could have significant implications for understanding various astrophysical phenomena and potentially even energy-related applications.
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope’s GBM instrument has been continuously collecting data with high time and energy resolutions, providing a vast dataset of gamma-ray observations. The researchers conducted extensive searches to identify transient events that did not trigger the detectors for various reasons. They employed four different search modes with various energy ranges and time resolutions, utilizing three statistical methods to identify specific classes of transients. The team also developed algorithms for flagging known events and classifying unknown events.
The resulting catalog contains over a million events, including known phenomena such as gamma-ray bursts, soft-gamma repeater bursts, galactic X-ray source activities, terrestrial gamma flashes, and solar flares. For each candidate event, the catalog provides details such as event time, detection significance, event duration, hardness ratios, known-event flagging results, and classification probabilities. This catalog significantly expands the existing list of known events and complements the GBM trigger catalog.
While the primary focus of this research is astrophysical, the comprehensive database of gamma-ray transients could have practical applications in the energy sector. For instance, understanding the behavior of solar flares and other space weather phenomena can help in developing better protective measures for satellites and other space-based energy infrastructure. Additionally, the statistical methods and algorithms developed for this research could be adapted for monitoring and analyzing data from energy systems on Earth, potentially improving their efficiency and reliability.
The research was published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, a reputable source for astrophysical data and methodologies. The event database with filtering capabilities is publicly available at https://magnetars.sabanciuniv.edu/gbm, allowing users to retrieve event information based on their input queries along with the event lightcurves. This resource could be valuable for both astrophysical research and energy-related applications.
This article is based on research available at arXiv.