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# Supernova Spectra

## 1 Introduction

Spectra provide most of the physical information on Supernovae. Their early analysis has shown a variety of forms and evolutions. Indeed the identification of different spectral lines reveals the presence of several different ions in the layers above the photosphere, suggesting the existence of various progenitors and explosion models. Spectra also allow us the direct determination of the physical conditions of the emitting regions, while the line profiles provide the kinematics.

Supernova spectra evolve rapidly: the effective temperature and expansion velocity decrease, and the spectral lines change. Indeed, because of the expansion, the photosphere recedes into the ejecta and different layers are progressively exposed. In this way the analysis of SN spectra taken at different epochs allows us, at least in principle, to make the tomography of the exploding stars and to reconstruct their entire structures. A major limitation is that spectral features in SN spectra are generally blended due to the large expansion velocities and the full information can be extracted only with the use of complex spectral modeling which try to deal in a consistent way the luminosity, abundances, stratification, temperature, velocity and time evolution.

In general, the light from SNe is travelling for several megaparsecs before reaching the observers thus contains information on the circumstellar, interstellar and intergalactic matter it has passed through. In principle, high resolution spectroscopy might allow us to determine the distribution and physical conditions of the intervening medium and, in turn, the total reddening and extinction suffered by the light.

Finally, in the recent years spectral observations on faint, distant of SNIa have provided sufficiently accurate redshifts which, once coupled with the photometry, have inspired a new vision of the Universe we are living in.

This review discusses a number of hot topics concerning SN spectra while reference is given to other reviews for the detailed description of the properties and evolution of various spectral types fil97 ; tur03 ; wheben00 .

## 2 A spectral sequence for SNIa ?

SNIa explode in all types of galaxies, in ellipticals as well as in spirals, but in the latters are not closely associated with the spiral arms as other SN types. The spectra are characterized by lines of intermediate mass elements such as Ca, O, Si and S during the peak phase, and by the absence of H at any time. With age the contribution of the Fe lines increases and several months past maximum the spectra are dominated by \[Fe II\] and \[Fe III\] lines. The overall homogeneous spectroscopic and photometric behavior has led to a general consensus that they are associated with the thermonuclear explosions of white dwarfs bran95 .

During the last decade a new scenario for the SNIa has been progressively developed. In particular, a correlation between the peak luminosity and the shape of the early light curve was found, with brighter objects having a rate of decline slower than dimmer ones phil93 ; perl97 ; phil99 ; riess98 . An analogous spectroscopic sequence has been found nugent , according to which the absolute magnitude of SNIa and, in turn, the rate of decline, is correlated to $``$(SiII), the ratio of the depths of two absorption features at 5800 and 6100 Å, usually attributed to Si II. Synthetic spectra modeling indicates that most of the spectral differences are caused by variations in the effective temperatures, likely due to different amounts of 56Ni produced in the explosions. The finding that fainter SNe show slow expansion velocities both at early branchvdb  and later epochs tur91bg  is consistent with such scenario.

In first approximation all SNIa can be accommodated into such one–parameter sequence which can be regarded as a sequence of explosion strengths. Within such scheme fit the bright, slowly declining SN 1991T, which did not exhibit Si II or Ca II absorption lines in the premaximum spectra but had a normal behavior starting one month after maximum, and the faint, intrinsically red and fast declining SN 1991bg, which showed a slow expansion velocities and a deep trough around 4200 Å produced by Ti II.

In the last years, however, new findings have challenged such a monoparametric sequence. Hatano et al. hata00  have shown that the $``$(SiII) does not correlated with the photospheric velocity deduced from the Si II $`\lambda 6355`$ absorption, as one would expect, and propose the existence of two or more explosion mechanisms as possible explanation for the lack of correlation. Also, a recent reanalysis bene03  has shown that while the $``$(SiII) vs. $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ relation holds for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}1.2`$, at smaller values it breaks down, thus questioning the correspondence between spectroscopic and photometric parameters.

A number of objects have now good sequences of spectra, some starting very early after the explosion, which make possible to study the temporal evolution of $``$(SiII). It is found that before maximum $``$(SiII) exhibits a dramatic evolution with opposite trends for various objects bene03 .

Moreover, objects with similar decline rates can show different spectral features, especially before maximum. In Figure 1 the spectra of four objects taken about one week before B maximum are compared. The spectrum of SN 2000E ($`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}=0.94`$ mag (100d)-1) shows noticeable differences with respect the two SNe at the bottom, having the same decline rates, but is very similar to that of SN 1990N ($`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}=1.05`$). Not only it differs from that of SN 1991T ($`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}=0.94`$) which is well known for not displaying at this epoch the characteristic Si II line but shows disturbing differences with the normal SN 1999ee ($`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}=0.92`$). In particular, the profile of the Si II 6355$`\lambda `$ line is definitely broader in SN 1999ee indicating the presence of Si II at high velocity. Also the SiII 4130$`\lambda `$ line, which can be used for classifying high redshift SNe as type Ia, is nearly washed out. Note also that the analysis of the Ca II IR triplet of SN 1999ee before maximum (Mazzali priv. communication) requires high velocity material in analogy to what found for 2001el thomas03 .

Two other odd SNIa are 2000cx and 2002cx which do not fit into any photometric and spectroscopic sequence still showing the main characteristics of type Ia SNe li01a ; li03 .

## 3 Trends in SNIa spectroscopy

More and better data are required to clarify which parameters govern the SNIa explosions and to validate the proposed progenitor scenarios. To solve these questions large collaborations have born which have as immediate goal the intensive, multiwavelength monitoring of nearby SNIa.

Examples of such intensive monitoring are the studies of SNe 1999ee mario99ee  and 2002bo bene03 , for which the rise to maximum has been sampled daily starting about two weeks before maximum. The analysis of these spectra has allowed the discovery of strong time evolutions of the ratio $``$(SiII) with individual behaviors for each SNIa (cfr. Fig. 9 of Benetti et al. bene03 ), as mentioned above.

These two objects have been extensively monitored spectroscopically also in the infrared. The comparative analysis with the IR spectra of SN 1994D meikle96  at about day $`8.5`$, +11.1 and +29.4 confirms that the overall spectroscopic homogeneity among normal SNe Ia extends to the IR-domain, with small variations. Spectral synthesis on the spectra of SN 2002bo favors the MgII identification for the 10800Å line and that of SiII 16910Å and MgII 16760/800 Å(with the SiII dominant) for the broad P-Cygni profile observed at $``$16000Å. On the contrary, major differences are visible when the comparison is made with peculiar objects, e.g. the faint SN 1999by hofl02 , especially because of the presence of strong C I and O I lines.

The optical and the IR spectra of SNIa mario99ee  shows different behaviors: a) while the optical spectrum before maximum is dominated by strong P Cygni profiles of intermediate-mass elements, such as Ca II, Si II, Mg II, S II, the IR is characterized by a smooth, almost featureless continuum; b) the lines of iron group elements, such as Co II, Fe II and Ni II, emerge in the IR as soon as one week past maximum, definitely earlier than in the visual. This supports the suggestion spyro94  that the IR photosphere recedes rapidly to the center of the supernova, while at optical wavelengths the greater opacity arising from the higher spectral density of lines keeps the photosphere at higher velocities. At the longer wavelengths the overall emission increases after maximum light as a result of a shift in ionization to lower ionization species, which have greater emissivity in the near IR. It appears, therefore, that the J-band deficit is due to the relative absence of lines in the 12000 region, rather than increasing opacity, and that the secondary maxima exhibited by the IR light curves are due to the increasing release of energy through lower optical depth IR transitions. The prominent postmaximum emission features displayed by SNe 1999ee and 2002bo in the H and K bands lend support to this scenario mario99ee .

A new powerful tool for understanding the nature of SNIa is spectropolarimetry. SNIa polarization is usually very small, hence difficult to measure. In most cases only upper limits have been provided, in others polarization of the order of 0.2–0.3% (corresponding to an asphericity of $``$10%) has been detected before maximum light, likely due to a distorted photosphere or element distribution. Such asphericity may cause a directional dependance of the luminosity and a corresponding dispersion in the brightness-decline relation of SNe Ia. Although this may not jeopardize the use of SNIa as distance indicators, it might intrinsically limit the accuracy reachable via SNIa.

Very interesting spectropolarimetric data have been collected for special SNIa. High polarization (0.7%) was found in the subluminous SN 1999by how01 , which may suggest a relation between the observed asymmetry and the mechanism that produces this kind of underenergetic SNIa. The high velocity components (v$`25000`$ km/s) of the CaII IR triplet observed in SN 2001el have shown a polarization of about 0.7%, much higher than the continuum (0.2%) indicating that kinematically and geometrically distinct features can exist in SNIa wang . High signal–to–noise data for more objects are definitely needed in order to understand if these asymmetries are the rule in SNIa, and to get insights on the the geometry of the precursor systems.

A special case is that of SN 2002ic, the first SNIa for which H has been unequivocally detected hamuy03 . Indeed both the light curve and the spectral line appearance points toward a strong interaction of the SN ejecta with a dense CSM. At the early phase the characteristic spectrum of a SNIa seemed veiled by a strong continuum. With time the spectrum evolved to resemble those of SNe 1997cy and 1999E, which are commonly considered as SNIIn germ ; tur97cy ; rigon . Also the profile of the H$`\alpha `$ emission requires at least two components with different widths to provide a reasonable fit. It has, therefore, suggested that some SNIIn are the outcome of thermonuclear explosions rather than core collapses. Despite the early claim that these observations were a proof that the progenitor system of SN 2002ic was a binary consisting of a C/O WD and an AGB star hamuy03 , it may well be that it is the result of the merging of a WD with the core of an AGB star, and that the H we observe was previously ejected during a common envelope phase livio03 . The rarity of such an event and the large amount of H required favors the latter hypothesis. A polarization of $`p1`$% kawa  has been detected also in SN 2002ic.

## 4 Core Collapse Supernovae

Stars of initial mass larger than about 8 M undergo the collapse of the core after burning H, He, C, Ne, O, Si. From such collapse a SN usually results.

Core collapse SNe can vary considerably as luminosity, spectral lines and time evolution. The main parameter governing the observed diversity is the envelope mass nomo95 . Stars retaining H will display the lines of this element during their entire evolution and are called SNII. If the H mass is large ($`1015`$ M) the release of the energy deposited by the shock in the envelope and by the recombination can sustain the luminosity for months, producing the so-called SNII Plateau. If the envelope is less massive ($`12`$ M), stripped by a companion or lost by stellar wind, the SN quickly fades producing the so–called SNII Linear.

In both cases the spectrum evolves from a very blue, featureless continuum short after the burst (color temperature higher than 104 K) to one dominated by H and He in a few days. Then, as the temperature continues to fall, other low excitation lines of Na I, Ca II, Fe II, Sc II appear, all with P–Cygni profiles. Subsequently, as the entire star becomes transparent and the light curve settles onto the radioactive tail, the spectrum enters the nebular phase, dominated by H$`\alpha `$ and forbidden emission lines of \[O I\], \[Ca II\], \[Fe II\] and Mg I\].

After SN 1987A, the best studied (but somehow atypical) object, whose detailed spectral observations provided evidences of clumps and mixing in the ejecta hanusch87 ; spyro93  as well as of dust formation danz91 , other SNII have been studied extensively. An interesting case is SN 1999em baron00 ; hamuy01 ; leon01 ; abu03 . The analysis of the H$`\alpha `$ structure at photospheric epoch revealed non spherical ejection of 56Ni, while the transformation of the \[O I\] 6300 $`\lambda `$ line profile around day 500 showed that dust formed earlier and at lower velocity than in SN 1987A, probably because of the lower temperature due to a smaller amount of 56Ni ejected. It appears, therefore, that these phenomena are common in core collapse SNe, though with distinctive characteristics for each object.

Core–collapse SNe which have lost most of their H and even most, or all, their He envelope, are called SNIb and Ic, respectively. Indeed the transition between SNII and SNIb, and between SNIb and SNIc is not sharp. SN1993J, celebrated with this Conference, is the best example (but not the only one) of a SN transforming with age from a type II to a type Ib SN, i.e. from one dominated by H to one dominated by He, with only residual H lines. For this reason it is called of type IIb fil\_math .

At a deep scrutiny, H has been found in the spectra of other SNIb. SN 2000H is a remarkable case, but Branch et al. bran02  have shown that tiny differences in the H mass can vary the optical depths of H lines and make the transition from type IIb to type Ib SNe. Similarly, an increasing number of SNIc show evidence of He, e.g. SN 1990B, SN 1987M and even the prototypical SN1994I fil95 ; cloc96 . Again, it appears that moderate difference in the He mass can explain the spectroscopic difference between typical SNIb and SNIc bran02 . Different is the case of SN 1999cq, in which He with expansion velocity much slower than other lines, points to the interaction of the ejecta with a dense shell of almost pure He originating from stellar wind or mass transfer to a companion mat00 .

### 4.1 News on Core Collapse SN spectra

In the last years new light on the lower end of the luminosity function of SNII has been shed zamp\_d\_br ; pasto03 . SN1997D showed from the discovery unprecedented properties. The expansion velocity deduced from the displacement of the absorption was extremely low and the continuum intrinsically red. Moreover, the luminosity was very low both at discovery and in the nebular stage, indicating the ejection of a very little amount of 56Ni tur97d .

Four new objects with similar properties have been recently added pasto03 . Although the observations of individual objects are erratic and incomplete, because hampered by the faintness of the SNe, taken together these data show a common evolutionary path. Figure 2 summarizes the spectroscopic evolution: during the first 50 days (spectra 1 and 2) the spectra change from a continuum dominated by Balmer lines to a more complex appearance with strong Na I, Ba II and Ca II. The expansion velocities, lower than in normal SNII, decrease from 5000 to 3000 km s-1. During the second half of the plateau (spectra 3 and 4) these peculiarities strengthen significantly: the absorption troughs move to even lower velocities, down to 1000–1500 km s-1, the continuum becomes redder and low excitation lines of Ba II, Sc II, Fe II, Sr II and Ti II appear. In particular, the Ba II lines become the strongest features of the entire spectrum, even stronger than H$`\alpha `$. During the postplateau decline (spectrum 5) the transition to the nebular phase begins and forbidden lines (e.g. \[Ca II\] 7291–7323 Å) emerge. The spectra of the latest epochs (6 and 7) resemble those of normal SNII, with the usual (though narrower) emissions of H$`\alpha `$, Na I, \[O I\], \[Ca II\], \[Fe II\], Mg I\].

Pastorello et al. pasto03  conclude that low–luminosity CC–SNe are similar to typical CC–SNe in having a clear plateau, lasting for $``$100 days, followed by a late–time decline driven by the decay of 56Co, and typical spectral lines at all phases. However, they keep distinctive characteristics in that (a) during the plateau phase the luminosity is at least a factor 10 times less than in typical CC–SNe, (b) the expansion velocity is unusually low at all epochs, and (c) the mass of 56Co which drives the late–time tail is at least a factor $``$10 lower than normal.

Important advances have been obtained also at the opposite extreme, i.e. for luminous and energetic SNe, often called hypernovae. In particular, large interest have received a number of SNe associated to GRBs. The first and best studied case is SN 1998bw which coincided in time and space with GRB980425 gal98  and was a powerful radio and X–ray emitter. In the optical most of its peculiarity stayed in the unprecedented broadness of the spectral features corresponding to expansion velocities of the ejecta as high as $`3\times 10^4`$ km s-1 at maximum light patat98bw . The high kinetic energy together with the high luminosity indicated an explosion energy of about $`5\times 10^{52}`$ ergs, if spherical symmetry is assumed iwa98 . Detailed spectral modeling iwa98 ; bran01a ; maz01 ; iwa03  has shown that the apparent emissions, which at maximum peaked around 5000, 6300 and 8500 Å, were actually low opacity regions of the spectra from which photons could escape. Lines of Si II, O I, Ca II and FeII have been identified, as well as He I 10830 Å.

Only during the nebular phase SN 1998bw reentered into the conventional taxonomical scheme with \[O I\], Mg I\], \[Fe II\], \[Ca II\] emissions which confirmed the early hypothesis that it was a peculiar case of SNIc. Also in the nebular phase the lines were unusually broad ($`9800\pm 500`$ km s-1 on day 201 patat98bw ).

After SN 1998bw several other hypernovae have been recognized, some were SNIc bearing strong resemblance to SN 1998bw but with smaller KE (1997ef, 1997dq, 1999as, 2002ap iwa00 ; mat01 ; iwa03 ; maz02 ), other were SNIIn (1997cy and 1999E germ ; tur97cy ; rigon ), which displayed narrow H$`\alpha `$ on the top of broad wings and broad light curves, clear indications of ejecta–CSM interaction. For some of them the possible association with GRB has been claimed but no firm conclusion was reached. Other cases of possible SN–GRB association have been reported on the basis of bumps detected in the light curves of GRB afterglows. The early spectroscopy of these bumps was intriguing but not conclusive garna03 ; mdv03 .

Excitement mounted when, short before this Conference, spectra of the rebrightening of the afterglow of the nearby GRB030329 (z=0.1685) were secured stanek ; mat03 . Already one week after the burst a SN spectrum, with emissions at approximately 5000 and 4200 Å, was detected and it dominated over the power-law continuum few days later (day $`11`$). This SN, named 2003dh, resembled, both as spectral evolution and light curve, SN 1998bw at the corresponding epoch from the associated GRB. A more accurate analysis and spectral modeling suggested that SN 2003dh was intermediate between SN 1998bw and SN 1997ef, as to kinetic energy and 56Ni production maz03  and pointed out the need for asymmetric explosions. Whatever the physics of the explosion, this new example provides solid evidence that at least some GRBs arise from core-collapse SNe and opens new frontiers in the SN research.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. This research is supported in part by the European Community’s Human Potential Programme under contract HPRN-CT-2002-00303, and grant Cofin 2001021149 of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research.

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# Temperature dependent fluorescence in disordered Frenkel chains: interplay of equilibration and local band-edge level structure

## Abstract

We model the optical dynamics in linear Frenkel exciton systems governed by scattering on static disorder and lattice vibrations, and calculate the temperature dependent fluorescence spectrum and lifetime. The fluorescence Stokes shift shows a nonmonotonic behavior with temperature, which derives from the interplay of the local band-edge level structure and thermal equilibration. The model yields excellent fits to experiments performed on linear dye aggregates.

Optical dynamics and emission of light in solid state systems are topics of considerable fundamental and technological importance. A variety of materials is currently studied as light emitting devices. Examples are semiconductor quantum wells and wires Gudiksen02 , conjugated polymers Gupta02 , and molecular aggregates Spano00 . Closely related is the quest for understanding the optical dynamics in photosynthetic antenna systems Renger00 ; Trinkunas01 . The fundamental understanding and description of the emission properties of all these systems are challenging, because they involve a complicated interplay of processes. The emission is usually caused by excitons and is particularly sensitive to the scattering of these quasi-particles on static disorder, which may lead to their localization, and lattice vibrations. The latter results in vibronic relaxation and hopping of the excitation between (localized) exciton states, which gives rise to spatial and spectral diffusion. These diffusion processes compete with spontaneous emission and nonradiative loss. Depending on the details of this competition, the excitons may or may not reach thermal equilibrium before emission occurs. Temperature plays an important role in this competition. The thermal destruction of cooperative emission in molecular aggregates deBoer90 , quantum wells Feldmann87 , and quantum wires Citrin92 ; Oberli99  is a well-known example of an interesting temperature dependent effect. The Stokes shift of the exciton fluorescence may exhibit interesting thermal behavior as well Zimmerman97 ; Scheblykin01 .

In this Letter, we theoretically study the exciton dynamics and the resulting emission properties of linear chains carrying small-radius excitons. We account for both exciton localization by static disorder and scattering of the excitons on lattice vibrations. The interplay of nonequilibrium conditions and the local band-edge level structure of disordered chains leads to interesting effects in the emission. A comparison to experiment is made.

We consider a chain of $`N`$ molecules described by the Frenkel exciton Hamiltonian

$$H=\underset{n=1}{\overset{N}{}}ϵ_n|nn|+\underset{n,m}{\overset{N}{}}J_{nm}|nm|,$$
(1)
where $`ϵ_n`$ is the excitation energy of the $`n`$th molecule and $`|n`$ denotes the state in which molecule $`n`$ is excited and all others are in their respective ground states. In order to model the effect of random solvent shifts, the $`ϵ_n`$ are assumed to be mutually uncorrelated Gaussian stochastic variables with mean $`ϵ_0`$ and standard deviation $`\sigma `$. The hopping integrals $`J_{nm}`$ are nonrandom and originate from dipolar coupling: $`J_{nm}=J/|nm|^3`$, $`J_{nn}0`$. Here, $`J`$ is positive, implying that the optically allowed exciton states reside at the bottom of the exciton band.

We will assume that the coupling of the excitons to lattice vibrations is weak. It is then appropriate to use a basis of eigenstates of $`H`$. This basis consists of $`N`$ exciton states, which are labeled by $`\nu =1,\mathrm{},N`$. The energy of the $`\nu `$th exciton, $`E_\nu `$, is the $`\nu `$th eigenvalue of the $`N\times N`$ matrix $`H_{nm}=n|H|m`$, while the $`n`$th component of the corresponding eigenvector, $`\phi _{\nu n}`$, gives the amplitude of the $`\nu `$th exciton state on molecule $`n`$: $`|\nu =_{n=1}^N\phi _{\nu n}|n`$. The disorder $`\sigma `$ leads to localization of the eigenstates and gives rise to a tail in the density of states (DOS) below the bare band edge Schreiber82 ; Fidder91a . This tail is of particular interest for optical properties, as the states residing in it carry most of the oscillator strength, $`F_\nu =|_n\phi _{\nu n}|^2`$. While the DOS accumulated over the entire chain is a smooth function of energy, locally it exhibits structure Malyshev9501 . This local level structure is of key importance to the low-temperature dynamics and is described below.

The exciton states in the tail of the DOS are localized on finite segments, which near the band edge have a typical size $`N^{}`$ (see Fig. 1). Within its own segment, each one of these states is the lowest-energy eigenstate. They have wave functions without nodes in the segments and carry an oscillator strength $`F_\nu N^{}`$. Their spontaneous emission rates, $`\gamma _\nu =\gamma _0F_\nu `$ (with $`\gamma _0`$ the emission rate of a single molecule), thus scale like $`N^{}`$. This is referred to as superradiant enhancement deBoer90 . Bottom states on neighboring segments have small overlap. Often a second, higher-energy, exciton state may be distinguished on a segment, separated from the bottom state by an energy of the order of $`3\pi ^2J/N_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}`$, as is dictated by energy quantization. These states have one node within the segments and small oscillator strengths. Still higher local states are usually delocalized over two or more segments and carry negligible oscillator strengths. The local level structure is washed out in the average over the entire chain due to the fact that the distribution of energies of the bottom segment states also has a width of the order of $`3\pi ^2J/N_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}`$ Malyshev9501 .

Weak exciton-phonon coupling leads to scattering between the exciton eigenstates. To describe this dynamics, we will use the Pauli master equation for the populations, $`P_\nu (t)`$, of the localized exciton states:

$$\dot{P}_\nu =R_\nu (t)\gamma _\nu P_\nu +\underset{\mu =1}{\overset{N}{}}(W_{\nu \mu }P_\mu W_{\mu \nu }P_\nu ).$$
(2)
Here, the dot denotes the time derivative, $`R_\nu (t)`$ is the optical pumping rate, $`\gamma _\nu `$ is the above defined spontaneous emission rate, and $`W_{\nu \mu }`$ is the transition rate from the localized state $`\mu `$ to the state $`\nu `$ induced by the exciton-phonon scattering. For the latter, we will use

$$W_{\nu \mu }=W_0S(E_\nu E_\mu )G(E_\nu E_\mu )\underset{n=1}{\overset{N}{}}\phi _{\nu n}^2\phi _{\mu n}^2,$$
(3)
where the constant $`W_0`$ characterizes the scattering, the sum over sites is the overlap integral of exciton probabilities for the states $`\mu `$ and $`\nu `$, and $`S(E_\nu E_\mu )`$ describes that part of the $`|E_\nu E_\mu |`$ dependence of $`W_{\nu \mu }`$ that derives from the energy dependence of the exciton-phonon coupling constant and the phonon density of states. Finally, $`G(E)=n(E)`$ if $`E>0`$ and $`G(E)=1+n(E)`$ if $`E<0`$, with $`n(\mathrm{\Omega })=[\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{\Omega }/k_\mathrm{B}T)1]^1`$ the mean occupation number of a phonon state with the energy $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Equation (3), which meets the principle of detailed balance, is the generic result from first-order perturbation theory in the exciton-phonon interaction Leegwater97 ; Shimizu01 ; Bednarz02 .

We have numerically simulated the above model of intra-band exciton dynamics for scattering on acoustic phonons of the chains’ host medium. We have set $`S=|E_\nu E_\mu |/J`$, which properly accounts for a decrease of the coupling of excitons to acoustic phonons at small wave vectors and prevents the divergence of $`W_{\nu \mu }`$ at small energy differences. We will illustrate the salient results of our model by using parameters that are relevant to molecular aggregates of the dye THIATS: $`ϵ_0=18138`$ cm-1, $`J=740`$ cm-1, and $`\gamma _0=(2/31)\times 10^8`$ s-1 Scheblykin01 ; Basko03 . These parameters are fixed; the two free parameters are $`\sigma `$ and $`W_0`$, for which we will use the values that yield the best fit to experimental data: $`\sigma =0.23J`$ and $`W_0=30J`$, respectively (vide infra). A more elaborate analysis of our model, covering a wider range of values for $`\sigma `$ and $`W_0`$, will be discussed elsewhere Bednarz03 . The motivation to focus on the example of THIATS aggregates, is that a large number of temperature dependent spectroscopic data are known for these systems Scheblykin00 ; Scheblykin01 . We will limit our attention to temperatures small compared to the Davydov splitting of 3000 cm-1 that exists for these aggregates between the so-called J band at the lower exciton band edge and the so-called H band at the upper band edge Scheblykin01 ; Basko03 . For these temperatures our effective model with one molecule per unit cell may be used note . We have used a chain size of $`N=500`$ in our simulations, which far exceeds the typical band-edge exciton size $`N^{}=30`$ for $`\sigma =0.23J`$.

We will first address the absorption and steady-state emission spectra, which are calculated through

$$A(E)=\frac{1}{N}\underset{\nu =1}{\overset{N}{}}\gamma _\nu \delta (EE_\nu ),$$
(4a)
$$I^{\mathrm{st}}(E)=\frac{1}{N}\underset{\nu }{}\gamma _\nu P_\nu ^{\mathrm{st}}\delta (EE_\nu ),$$
(4b)
respectively. Here, the angular brackets denote the average over the disorder realizations. Furthermore, $`P_\nu ^{\mathrm{st}}`$ is the steady-state solution of the master equation Eq. (2) with the source term given by $`R_\nu (t)=F_\nu `$ if $`E_\nu `$ falls inside a narrow window in the blue wing of the J band and $`R_\nu =0`$ otherwise. This blue-tail excitation condition agrees with common experimental conditions.

The spectra calculated for $`T=10`$ K are shown by solid lines in Fig. 2, together with the J band and fluorescence spectrum measured for THIATS aggregates at the same temperature (dots) Scheblykin01 . Clearly, both experimental spectra are fitted very well within our model. The main deviations occur in the tails, which are quite sensitive to the precise nature of the disorder (diagonal versus off-diagonal disorder, no perfect alignment of molecular dipoles). We note that the fluorescence band is shifted to the red (Stokes shift) and narrowed with respect to the J band. Keeping in mind that the absorption band is dominated by the set of superradiant bottom states of the various localization segments on the chain, this is an indication that after the fast initial relaxation to a particular bottom state (e.g., the level $`a`$ in Fig. 1), the excitons have a chance to relax to even lower states. This is a signature of migration to other localization segments, a process which at low temperatures is hindered by the small overlap between exciton wave functions of different segments. The fact that, in spite of this, migration may occur before radiative emission takes place, is due to the large value of $`W_0`$, which brings the system into a regime that we refer to as the fast-intersegment-relaxation limit. To illustrate the role of $`W_0`$, we also present in Fig. 2 (dashed line) the simulated fluorescence spectrum for $`W_0=10^3J`$ (all other parameters as above). In this slow-relaxation limit the fluorescence spectrum closely follows the absorption band and no Stokes shift occurs.

At zero temperature, the possibility for the excitation to migrate to other localization segments, after the initial relaxation process, is very small. The reason is that the migration may then only occur via a jump to a lower exciton state on a neighboring segment, for which at least some (albeit small) wave function overlap exists (cf. the process denoted by the dashed arrow in Fig. 1). However, the probability of finding a lower exciton state on a neighboring segment is small, because the initial state already lies in the tail of the DOS. Therefore, in practice, low-temperature exciton migration is limited to at most one jump. As a consequence of this blockade for diffusion, there is not much opportunity for the excitation to explore the full DOS during its lifetime and to equilibrate to the lowest state on the disordered chain. Thus, even for large $`W_0`$, the zero temperature Stokes shift is limited to values of the order of the J band width.

Upon increasing the temperature, higher states may thermally be excited and one expects the Stokes shift to decrease and eventually vanish. This is the generic behavior for single molecules. Our simulations show that at elevated temperatures this also occurs for the exciton system (Fig. 3(a)). However, our results also reveal a counter-intuitive intermediate regime, where the Stokes shift increases with temperature. This nonmonotonic behavior is intimately related to the interplay of equilibration and the local level structure near the exciton band edge. Upon slightly increasing the temperature from zero, a small fraction of the population is thermally raised from the bottom state of a segment to a higher exciton state that overlaps with the same segment. As this higher state generally overlaps with more segments, this provides a means of distributing the population over two or more neighboring segments. The total process is denoted by the dash-dotted arrows in Fig. 1. This overlap-assisted activated migration is slow, but it allows the excitation to probe more segments for a low-energy position and circumvents to some extent the blockade for migration which occurs at $`T=0`$ K. Hence, the excitons get closer to thermal equilibrium, which at low temperatures leads to a larger Stokes shift. Such anomalous low-temperature behavior has also been predicted and observed for Wannier excitons migrating between local potential minima in narrow quantum wells Zimmerman97 .

As we also see in Fig. 3(a), our numerical results, obtained for the same parameter set as was used to fit the low-temperature spectra, agree very well with the experimental data for THIATS aggregates reported in Ref. Scheblykin01 . This gives strong evidence for the validity of our dynamic model and the concept of overlap-assisted thermally-activated intersegment hopping. Using the typical local level separation $`3\pi ^2J/N_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}`$ and the superradiant emission rate $`N^{}\gamma _0`$, it may be shown that the temperature interval over which the Stokes shift behaves in an anomalous way (i.e., increases with $`T`$) scales roughly linearly with the absorption line width and only weakly (inverse logarithmically) depends on the ratio $`W_0/\gamma _0`$ Bednarz03 .

We finally turn to the lifetime of the total fluorescence intensity after pulsed excitation. For the generally non-exponential intensity trace $`I(t)=_\nu \dot{P}_\nu (t)`$, we define the lifetime as its first moment, i.e., the expectation value of the photon emission time: $`\tau =_0^{\mathrm{}}_\nu P_\nu (t)dt`$ Bednarz02 . Here, $`P_\nu (t)`$ is the solution of Eq. (2) with $`R_\nu (t)=cF_\nu \delta (t)`$ if $`E_\nu `$ falls in a narrow window in the blue tail of the absorption band and $`R_\nu (t)=0`$ otherwise. The normalization constant $`c`$ is such that directly following the excitation pulse the total population on the chain, $`_\nu P_\nu `$, equals unity.

The generic behavior of the lifetime as a function of temperature is well known. At low $`T`$, the decay is dominated by the superradiant bottom states of the localization segments, leading to a fluorescence lifetime of the order of $`1/N^{}\gamma _0`$. With increasing $`T`$, the exciton population is shared by the superradiant states as well as an increasing number of higher-lying dark states. This leads to an increase of the fluorescence lifetime, as has been observed for various exciton systems Feldmann87 ; deBoer90 ; Citrin92 ; Oberli99 ; Kamalov96 ; Scheblykin00 . For THIATS aggregates the lifetime shows a nearly linear temperature dependence from 0 to 130 K Scheblykin00  (see Fig. 3(b), diamonds). For BIC aggregates a similar linear increase was observed and, based on the flat nature of the DOS for ideal two-dimensional systems, this was put forward as evidence for a two-dimensional structure of these aggregates Kamalov96 . It turns out, however, that the interplay of the (local) DOS and equilibration in our one-dimensional model with disorder may equally well explain the quasi-linear behavior. The solid line in Fig. 3(b) gives our simulated results, obtained for the same parameters that were used to fit the low-temperature spectra of THIATS. We conclude that the model, without any new parameters, yields an excellent fit to the experimental data. We also mention that at small $`W_0`$ (slow relaxation), the linear temperature dependence may be preceded by a low-temperature plateau Bednarz03 , which is the type of behavior that is observed for aggregates of pseudo-isocyanine deBoer90 .

In summary, we have analyzed the temperature dependence of the fluorescence in one-dimensional disordered exciton systems and obtained excellent fits to experimental data for aggregates of the THIATS dye molecules. As far as we are aware, this is the first model calculation that yields such good agreement with a variety of fluorescence experiments on linear dye aggregates. Previous calculations focused only on the temperature dependent lifetime and did not account for exciton localization by disorder Spano90 . Our approach, based on the master equation with perturbatively calculated rates $`W_{\nu \mu }`$, is consistent as long as the rates for scattering between the optically dominant states do not exceed their energy separation. For the parameters used for THIATS we find that, in spite of the seemingly large value of $`W_0`$, at low temperature this criterion is just obeyed, due to the small overlap integral $`_{n=1}^N\phi _{\nu n}^2\phi _{\mu n}^21/N^{}`$ for the exciton wave functions near the band edge. With increasing temperature, the scattering rates increase and around 100 K they lead to a visible contribution to the absorption line width (homogeneous broadening) Scheblykin01 . At such high temperatures the master equation description breaks down and the full exciton density matrix must be considered instead Renger00 .

V.A.M. acknowledges support from la Universidad Complutense at the initial stage of this work.


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# Inner Halo Shapes of Dwarf Galaxies: Resolving the Cusp/Core Problem

## 1. Introduction

While the hierarchical CDM paradigm is very successful at reproducing observations on scales greater than a few Mpc, the agreement between between CDM predictions and galaxy halo properties is not as certain. In particular, measured inner halo density profile slopes of dwarf galaxies inferred from long-slit optical spectra tend to be shallower than the cusps obtained from CDM simulations of halo assembly (e.g. de Blok, Bosma, & McGaugh 2003, hereafter dBBM; Swaters et al. 2003, hereafter SMBB). The implications of this cusp/core problem in light of observational uncertainties remains unclear: while some authors advocate a genuine conflict between theory and observations (dBBM), others claim consistency between the data and cuspy CDM halos (SMBB). In this paper, we obtain inner density profile slopes for a large sample of dwarf galaxies and investigate the impact of observational and data processing errors on our result with detailed simulations.

## 2. Sample Selection and Data Analysis

We select 200 low-mass galaxies from the SFI++ catalog, a 4800-object Tully-Fisher database maintained at Cornell University (Catinella et al. 2003). Galaxies in the sample have $`V_{rot}<130\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, archived rotation curves (RCs) from high-quality H$`\alpha `$ spectroscopy and no evidence for a bulge, bar, or other baryonic distortions as determined by our accurate I-band photometry.

For each rotation curve, the density $`\rho (r_i)`$ is derived at each RC point $`r_i`$ assuming a minimal disk and spherical symmetry: $`\rho (r_i)2(V_i/r_i)(\text{d}V/\text{d}r)_i+V_i^2/r_i^2`$. The rotation velocity $`V_i`$ and RC derivative $`(\text{d}V/\text{d}r)_i`$ are obtained from a best-fit smooth curve to the RC points. For $`\rho (r)r^\alpha `$ at small r, we measure the inner slope $`\alpha _m`$ from a linear fit to the inner 2-3 points of log($`\rho (r)`$). Fig. 1 shows our results (solid lines): $`\alpha _m`$ is generally smaller than the intrinsic slope $`\alpha _{int}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ predicted by CDM simulations.

## 3. Dwarf Population Simulations

To investigate the consistency of our findings with CDM predictions, we simulate long-slit observations of 200 dwarf galaxies with intrinsic cusps. We embed infinitely thin, uniform H$`\alpha `$ disks inside NFW halos ($`\alpha _{int}=1`$; e.g. Navarro, Frenk & White 1996). The primary observational parameters for each system are random deviates of corresponding distributions derived for the sample. The simulated galaxies are then “observed” (with some error, chosen to match RC folding outputs from the sample) in typical conditions. The resulting RCs are calibrated and $`\alpha _m`$ is measured using the algorithm described in §2.

Fig. 1 shows the distribution of $`\alpha _m`$ obtained for the simulated dwarf population (dashed lines) superimposed on the sample distribution (solid lines); on average, the $`\alpha _m`$ inferred for the simulated halos are shallower than the intrinsic slope $`\alpha _{int}=1`$, and resemble those obtained for the galaxy sample. Quantitatively, a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test returns a “P-value” of 0.1, indicating no statistically significant difference between the two distributions. We conclude that these long-slit spectroscopic observations are consistent with cuspy halos predicted by the CDM paradigm without recourse to halo triaxiality, modifications of Newtonian dynamics or other exotic phenomena.

## References

Catinella, B. C., Haynes, M. P., & Giovanelli, R. 2003, in preparation

de Blok, W. J. G., Bosma, A., & McGaugh, S. 2003, MNRAS, 340, 657 (dBBM)

Navarro, J. F., Frenk, C. S., & White, S. D. 1996, ApJ, 462, 563

Swaters, R. A., Madore, B. F., van den Bosch, F. C., & Balcells, M. 2003, ApJ, 583, 732 (SMBB)


text:
# On the Structure of Quasi-Universal Jets for Gamma-Ray Bursts

## 1. Introduction

One of the outstanding problems in the field of GRBs is understanding the extent to which these events are beamed, as well as the structure or configuration of the jet that produces the burst and its afterglow. The simplest model is a uniform jet, in which it is assumed that all parameters (density $`n`$, Lorentz factor $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, magnetic and electron equipartition factors $`ϵ_B`$ and $`ϵ_e`$, etc.) are constant throughout the jet. This jet can be described by an opening angle $`\theta _j`$ (or alternatively a solid angle $`2\pi (1-\mathrm{cos}\theta _j)\pi \theta _j^2`$,). Under this assumption of uniformity throughout the jet, Frail et al. (2001) inferred the jet angle to a sample of GRBs with observed afterglows, from a break observed in the afterglow light curve. In a uniform jet model, this break occurs about the time when the GRB ejecta has slowed down enough so that the relativistic beaming angle of the radiation, $`1/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, becomes greater than $`\theta _j`$ (e.g. see Rhoads, 1997, Frail et al., 2001). Using the inferred jet angle, the measured flux and redshift to each burst, Frail et al. (2001), and then Bloom, Frail, & Kulkarni (2003; hereafter BFK) with a larger sample, were able to determine the emitted energy $`E`$ of each burst. Remarkably, they found that the GRBs in their sample exhibited very little dispersion in $`E`$ (see Figure 1 of BFK); in other words, they found that the isotropic equivalent energy of the GRB, $`E_{iso}`$, and the jet opening angle, $`\theta _j`$, adhere to the relationship $`E_{iso}\theta _j^2`$ constant. This intriguing result lends some credence to the possibility that a uniform description of a GRB jet may be valid.

However, an alternative model was suggested by Rossi et al. (2002) and Zhang & Meszaros (2002; hereafter ZM). They suggested that in fact GRBs may have a structured jet configuration, in which parameters such as the emitted energy can vary as a function of angle from the jet axis. All GRBs may then have approximately the same (“quasi-universal”) jet profile but appear different because of different orientations of the GRB jet to the observer (or in other words, varying observer angle $`\theta _v`$). In this model, a break in the afterglow light curve is still observed at the time the Lorentz factor slows to a value $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1/\theta _v`$ (see Rossi et al., 2002, and ZM for more discussion). There are several advantages of this model. It has the appeal that it allows for uniformity among the GRB population, and also makes definite predictions about the distribution of observed break times in the GRB afterglow light curve (Perna, et al. 2003), as well as the observed GRB luminosity function (ZM). The uniform jet model has to require different bursts having different opening angles, and it has no predictive power for the observed distribution of these opening angles or the GRB luminosity function. In addition, realistic simulations (e.g. W. Zhang, Woosley & MacFadyen, 2002) naturally predict jet structure from the collapsar scenario, so it is essential to investigate the possible jet structures in the quasi-universal picture. Motivated by the Frail et al. result ($`E_{iso}\theta _j^2=`$constant), the most straightforward universal jet model would be a power-law with an index of $`k=2`$, as Rossi et al. and ZM have discussed. However, ZM observed that in terms of interpreting the lightcurves and jet breaks, one does not need to abide by any power-law jet configuration. In particular, they suggested that a Gaussian structure (and more general configurations) may describe the GRB jet. It has also been shown that a simple power-law model violates some of the observational data. For example, Granot and Kumar (2003), found that this type of model cannot reproduce the observed afterglow light curve, while Kumar and Granot (2003) have found that a Gaussian structure for the universal jet model does a better job.

In this paper, we test how well the quasi-universal jet model can reproduce the existing data. In particular, we test power-law and Gaussian models for the emitted energy, $`ϵ(\theta )`$, as a function of angle from the jet axis. Because it is unphysical to expect that all GRBs have exactly the same jet structure, we allow for realistic scatter in the parameters of the models and place limits on this necessary scatter. The paper is organized as follows: In §2, we describe the data and any possible selection effects that may play a role in the results. In §3, we show how pure power-law and Gaussian models fit the data of BFK. In §4, we introduce scatter into the parameters of each model and show how much dispersion is needed in these parameters to accurately reproduce the data. We also discuss predictions the Gaussian model makes in the $`E_{iso}-\theta _j`$ plane, which may be tested with future observations (and may have already been observed). In §5, we discuss what each model predicts for the observed luminosity function and how this compares to existing data. A summary and conclusions are presented in §6.

## 2. Data

Our data is taken from BFK, which provides an isotropic energy estimate for 27 bursts. Of these bursts, 16 have a clear break in the afterglow light curve from which a jet opening angle (in the uniform jet model) can be inferred. These data are shown in Figure 1 (square points). Of the 11 bursts eliminated from the original sample, 8 have upper (or lower) limits to $`\theta _j`$, based on a steeper (shallower) light curve observed at later (earlier) times, but no break directly observed. The other three bursts were well described by a single power-law throughout the extent of the observations. As discussed in the introduction, they found in this sample a very small dispersion for the energy emitted from a uniform jet of opening angle $`\theta _j`$. This translates to a negative correlation between the isotropic equivalent energy $`E_{iso}`$ and the jet opening angle, such that $`E_{iso}\theta _j^2`$ constant. We performed all of our analysis below on both the nominal 16 bursts as well as the sample where the 8 limit bursts are included (where we took the limit as the nominal value), which gives us some idea of how eliminating these bursts biases the sample and our results. We find in fact the results do not change qualitatively or quantitatively in either case, so we consider our sample with the limits removed reasonably complete. We present results for the sample of 16 bursts for which a definite jet opening angle has been estimated.

Of course, there could be additional underlying selection affects biasing the entire sample that must be considered. This is a concern, for example, if there is a selection against detecting high $`E_{iso}`$, high $`\theta _j`$ bursts or low $`E_{iso}`$, low $`\theta _j`$ bursts. Such selection effects could produce an artifical correlation in the $`E_{iso}-\theta _j`$ plane. This latter bias could be particularly worrisome. First, a low $`\theta _j`$ implies an early jet break time, and a steepening of the light curve that may lead to a missed afterglow detection. More importantly, however, is that a low $`E_{iso}`$ may be missed due to the flux limit of the detector. For a burst at some redshift $`z`$, the limit on $`E_{iso}`$ is given by $`E_{iso,lim}=F_{lim}4\pi d^2(1+z)`$, where $`F_{lim}`$ is the limiting fluence (time integrated flux) of the detector and $`d`$ is the metric distance as a function of redshift. For bursts at a redshift of $`1`$, for example, we find that $`E_{iso,lim}10^{50}(F_{lim}/3\times 10^8\mathrm{ergcm}^2)`$ erg. This is well below the values of $`E_{iso}`$ in our sample. \[We also point out that there is some evidence that bursts have higher $`E_{iso}`$ at higher redshifts (Lloyd-Ronning, et al. 2002, Amati et al., 2002, Yonetoku et al. 2003, Graziani, et al. 2003), which helps reduce the severity of the flux selection.\] In addition, the expression for computing $`\theta _j`$ (see equation 1 of Frail et al., 2001) is very weakly dependent (to the $`1/8`$ power) on $`E_{iso}`$. This means that the functional form of the truncation in the $`E_{iso}-\theta _j`$ plane goes as $`E_{iso}\theta _j^8`$, which is far steeper than the correlation observed. As a result, we conclude that selection effects are probably not producing the correlation between $`E_{iso}`$ and $`\theta _j`$ in the BFK data, and that this is a reflection of a real physical effect in GRBs. Under the assumption that this correlation is real, we explore configurations of the energy as a function of angle $`ϵ(\theta )`$ in the quasi-universal configuration.

## 3. Quasi-universal Jet Models

In the universal jet model, the oberver angle $`\theta _v`$ takes the place of the jet opening angle $`\theta _j`$. Then - as described in ZM - $`E_{iso}(\theta _j)`$ in the uniform jet model translates to $`ϵ(\theta )`$, the energy as a function of angle from the jet axis, in the quasi-universal picture. In principle, we can then fit $`E_{iso}(\theta _j)`$ with various models to constrain the possible quasi-universal jet structure $`ϵ(\theta )`$. As discussed in the introduction and in ZM, two plausible models for the jet structure $`ϵ(\theta )`$ are a power-law and a Gaussian. We describe each in turn below.

### 3.1. Power-law

One possible model for the structure of a universal jet is a power-law:

$$ϵ(\theta )=ϵ_o(\theta /\theta _{})^k,$$
(1)
for $`\theta >\theta _c`$, where $`\theta _c`$ is some cutoff to prevent divergence (see also ZM). The solid line in Figure 1 shows the best power-law fit to $`E_{iso}(\theta _j)ϵ(\theta )`$. The best fit gives an index $`k`$ of $`1.9\pm .1`$. We emphasize that the reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of this fit is unacceptably high ($`8`$) because of the intrinsic scatter in the data (we will return to this point when we compare Gaussian models to the data). Nonetheless, a simple power-law structure describes the general trend of the data well. Of course this result is not surprising since the Frail et al. (2001) and BFK result shows that $`E_{iso}\theta ^2`$ constant (or $`E_{iso}\theta ^2`$). Although this model appears to describe the data, it is worth investigating what other types of jet structure may produce the BFK data. In particular, Granot & Kumar (2003) ran simulations which showed that a power-law jet structure cannot reproduce the afterglow light curves - there is an unobserved flattening both right before the jet break and also at late times (after the jet break). A Gaussian, model, on the other hand, does reproduce the features observed in the afterglow lightcurves (Kumar & Granot, 2003). We explore this model in the next section.

### 3.2. Gaussian

A Gaussian model,

$$ϵ(\theta )=ϵ_oe^{\theta ^2/2\theta _o^2}$$
(2)
is also a physically reasonable suggestion for the structure of a universal jet. In this model, the energy peaks at $`\theta =0`$ (i.e. down the center of the jet axis) and $`\theta _o`$ can be considered a characteristic width of the jet. The dotted line in Figure 1 shows the best fit Gaussian jet structure, with a characteristic jet width $`\theta _o`$ of 13 degrees. By eye, one can see that this is an unacceptable description of the data and indeed this is confirmed formally (with reduced $`\chi ^220`$). \[We note that when a Gaussian + power-law model is tried, the Gaussian component is made negligible in the fit routine, consistent with the above results.\]

However, we point out that it is unphysical to expect that a jet’s energy structure (as a function of angle from the axis) will be exactly the same from GRB to GRB. A much more natural and physical model is to allow a quasi-universal configuration - i.e. to allow some scatter in the parameters of each of these models. It is possible, then, that more general configurations (other than a simple power-law) can better describe the data. We explore this possibility in the following section.

### 3.3. Varying the Model Parameters

We investigate how the Gaussian and power-law models improve in describing the data when we allow the parameters (such as the power-law index or mean of the Gaussian distribution) to vary. We put limits on how much the parameters in each model much vary to reproduce the scatter in the observed data. As we will show below and as is consistent with our results in the previous section, a power-law model does a good job of describing the data and requires only small intrinsic scatter in the model parameters. However, the Gaussian model can also reproduce the observed data well; futhermore, in most cases this model predicts a sharp cutoff in the $`E_{iso}-\theta _j`$ plane at large $`\theta _j`$ as well as a turnover at very low values of $`\theta _j`$, the latter of which may already have been observed. We discuss this in more detail below.

#### 3.3.1 Method

To test this scenario, we allow one parameter (or two when noted) of each model to vary according to either a log-normal or normal distribution. For example we can allow the normalization of the Gaussian model $`ϵ_o`$ to vary as a log-normal distribution rather than be a single fixed value. For each value of $`\theta `$,111Our $`\theta `$ values are taken from the BFK data directly. However, we find qualitatively and quantitatively similar results if we draw our $`\theta `$ values from, say, a uniform distribution in linear space. we draw the normalization $`ϵ_o`$ (in this example) from a log-normal distribution with some mean and scatter, and keep the mean of the jet width $`\theta _o`$ fixed to some value. We then compute the energy using this normalization and $`\theta _o`$ according to equation 2. Because the normalization is drawn from a distribution with some scatter, this will produce some scatter in the energy as a function of angle. The point is to find out how much scatter is needed in each parameter of the models to reproduce the data. Besides requiring the data to qualitatively look similar, by reproducing the energy range and scatter of the BFK data, for the Gaussian jet model we would like the simulated data to be fit by a power-law with an index consistent with the fit to the BFK data ($`2`$), with a $`\chi ^24-10`$ (similar to that of the data). Finally, we run a Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test to check whether the two distributions (data vs. simulations) can be considered statistically similar.

We comment that for all parameters but the index $`k`$ in the power-law model, the log-normal distribution is the probably the most physically reasonable distribution for adding dispersion to the parameters of each model. It accurately reflects the dynamic range of variation seen in the data and avoids unphysical negative values for the energy that can arise when a simple normal distribution is used for the parameter variations. Also, if GRBs from progenitors over a wide mass range, e.g. $`10-300M_{}`$, a log-normal distribution is more natural to describe the dispersion in the physical parameters. If, however, they arise from progenitors of a very narrow mass range, a normal distribution for parameter variations may be appropriate. Although (except for the power-law index $`k`$) we consider the log-normal variations to be physically more reasonable, we present the results for both distributions below; our figures, however, show only the results of the log-normal variations (except, again, for the power-law index $`k`$).

#### 3.3.2 Results

1. Power law:
First, we explore how much scatter is necessary in the power-law model to reproduce the scatter of the BFK data. We consider the case where the power-law index $`k`$ in equation 1 is not a constant but derived from a normal distribution $`\mathrm{exp}^{(k-<k>)^2/2\sigma _k^2}`$. We choose a mean $`<k>`$ of -2 and explore various $`\sigma _k`$ values that can reproduce the data. For a $`\theta _{}=1^{}`$ in equation 1, a scatter of $`\sigma _k0.7`$ adequately reproduces the BFK data. This is shown by the circles in Figure 2 (the BFK data are the square points). The bottom line is that the scatter in the power-law index need be on the order of $`0.7`$ to reproduce the scatter in the BFK data. We also vary the normalization $`ϵ_o`$ as a log-normal $`ϵ_o^1\mathrm{exp}^{(\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o)-<\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o)>)^2/2\sigma _{\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o)}^2}`$. We find that a mean of $`<\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg})>=4.8`$ and a dispersion $`\sigma _{\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg})}=0.6`$ adequately reproduces the data (in the sense of reproducing the scatter and preserving the $`k=2`$ power-law behavior) as shown by the circles in Figure 3. When we vary $`ϵ_o`$ according to a normal distribution $`\mathrm{exp}^{(ϵ_o-<ϵ_o>)^2/2\sigma _{ϵ_o}^2}`$, we find that $`<ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg}>=1.6\times 10^4`$ and $`\sigma _{ϵ_o}=<ϵ_o>`$ does an adequate job of reproducing the scatter. In all cases, we have taken $`\theta _{}`$ in equation 1 equal to $`1^{}`$.

2. Gaussian:
In this case, we tried varying each of the parameters, $`ϵ_o`$ and $`\theta _o`$ of the Gaussian model in equation 2, according to a log-normal and a normal distribution. For example, as described below, we let the dispersion or characteristic width of the jet $`\theta _o`$ be derived from a log-normal function with a mean $`<\mathrm{lg}(\theta _o)>`$ and standard deviation $`\sigma _{\mathrm{lg}(\theta _o)}`$, while $`ϵ_o`$ is fixed to some constant value. In addition, we try a model in which the normalization $`ϵ_o`$ is taken from a log-normal distribution and then $`\theta _o`$ varies in a correlated way according to the equation $`ϵ_o\theta _o^2`$ constant. This is motivated by the fact that the Frail et al. (2001) and BFK data imply that the total GRB energy is approximately constant (in a uniform jet configuration); in the quasi-universal Gaussian model, this total energy is given by $`ϵ_o\theta _o^2`$ (ZM). A summary of our results are as follows:

* Varying the characteristic jet width, $`\theta _o`$: We try a model in which $`\theta _o`$ in equation 2 varies as a log-normal with mean $`<\mathrm{lg}(\theta _o)>`$ and standard deviation $`\sigma _{\mathrm{lg}(\theta _o)}`$. In general, we find that $`<\mathrm{lg}(\theta _o/1^{})>`$ in the range $`0.7-0.8`$ and $`\sigma _{\mathrm{lg}(\theta _o)}`$ in the range 0.3-0.5 does the best job reproducing the data. A higher mean tends to create an unobserved flattening at low values of $`\theta _j`$, while a lower mean causes the simulated data to be too steep (with power law index much steeper than $`2`$). Figure 4 shows the simulated data vs. actual data in the BFK range for $`<\mathrm{lg}(\theta _o/1^{})>=0.8`$ and $`\sigma _{\mathrm{lg}(\theta _o)}=0.4`$. The simulated data shown in Figure 4 are fit with a power-law of index $`1.8\pm 0.2`$ in the range of the BFK data; this is consistent with the index we obtained when fitting a simple-power-law to the BFK data. The fit gives a reduced $`\chi ^2=4.0`$, which - although formally unacceptable - is consistent with the value of $`\chi ^2`$ obtained when we fit a power-law directly to the BFK data. Hence, we consider this similar value of $`k`$ and $`\chi ^2`$ to indicate that we are accurately reproducing the slope and scatter of the data. Finally, when we perform a KS test on the simulated and observed data, we find that the probability that these data are derived from the same distribution is $`69`$ %. A very low value of this probability $`<<1`$% would indicate with statistical robustness that these data are from different distributions. Hence, we consider this model to adequately reproduce the data.

Using a normal distribution to produce variation in $`\theta _o`$, with average value $`<\theta _o>`$ and a standard deviation $`\sigma _{\theta _o}`$, we find that values $`<\theta _o>7-10^{}`$ and $`\sigma _{\theta _o}2-4^{}`$ do the best job in reproducing the data. Our best fit was for $`<\theta _o>=9^{}`$ and $`\sigma _{\theta _o}=4^{}`$. The simulated data in this case are fit with a power-law of index $`2.0\pm 0.2`$ in the range of the BFK data; this is consistent with the index we obtained when fitting a simple-power-law to the BFK data. The fit gives a reduced $`\chi ^2=6.4`$. A KS test gives a probability of $`15`$ % that these data are derived from the same distribution. In general, this particular model is quite unstable (for small variations in $`\theta _o`$, we can get huge variations in the energy) and reproduces the data only in special cases.
* Varying the normalization, $`ϵ_o`$: We vary the normalization $`ϵ_o`$ as according to a log-normal distribution with mean $`<\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o)>`$ and standard deviation $`\sigma _{\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o)}`$. For a $`\theta _o=10^{}`$, $`<\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg})>`$ in the range $`3.4-3.7`$ and a $`\sigma _{\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg})}`$ in the range $`0.5-0.7`$ describes the data well. Figure 5 shows the simulated data for $`<\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg})>=3.6`$ and $`\sigma _{\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg})}=0.7`$ The simulated data shown in Figure 5 are fit with a power-law of index $`1.5\pm 0.3`$ and $`\chi ^2=5.6`$ in the range of the BFK data. The formal power-law fit is marginally consistent with the fit to the BFK data, but a KS test performed on the simulated and observed data sets gives a probability of $`99`$ % that the two data sets are derived from the same parent distribution.222Again, we note that the KS diagnostic is intended to check whether two distributions can be considered statistically different. A value $`<<1`$ % would indicate such a result. A higher value (like $`99`$ %) does not necessarily indicate the model is any better than a lower value (like $`50`$ %). All of our KS probabilities show that it is not the case that the simulated and observed data are derived from different distributions.

When we vary the normalization $`ϵ_o`$ according to a normal distribution with mean $`<ϵ_o>`$ and standard deviation $`\sigma _{ϵ_o}`$, we find that for a $`\theta _o=10^{}`$, $`<ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg}>=1.3\times 10^3`$ and $`\sigma _{ϵ_o}=1.7\times 10^3`$ describes the data well. Note that the values of the mean and dispersion cause some deviates to be negative. In this case, we take the absolute value of all deviates. The data here are fit with a power-law of index $`2.0\pm 0.2`$ and $`\chi ^2=7.4`$ in the range of the BFK data. A KS test performed on the simulated and observed data sets gives a probability of $`49`$ % that the two data sets are derived from the same parent distribution.
* Varying $`\theta _o`$ and $`ϵ_o`$ in a correlated way: Finally, we vary $`\theta _o`$ and $`ϵ_o`$ such that the total energy $`ϵ_o\theta _o^2=constant`$, again motivated by the result of Frail et al. (2001) and BFK that the total GRB energy is approximately constant. To do this, we take $`ϵ_o`$ from a log-normal distribution as described in the previous section and solve for $`\theta _o`$ from the above relationship. We find the observed data is reproduced when $`<\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg})>=3.4`$ and $`\sigma _{\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg})}=0.6`$. This results in a mean jet width of $`20^{}`$. The simulated data shown in Figure 6 are fit with a power-law of index $`1.8\pm 0.2`$ and $`\chi ^26.6`$ in the range of the BFK data. A KS test performed on the simulated and observed data sets gives a probability of $`63`$ % that the two distributions are the same.

For a normal variation in $`ϵ_o`$, we find the observed data is reproduced when $`<ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg}>=1.3\times 10^3`$ and $`\sigma _{ϵ_o/10^{50}\mathrm{erg}}=2.0\times 10^3`$. This gives a mean jet width of about $`10^{}`$. These simulated data are fit with a power-law of index $`1.7\pm 0.2`$ and $`\chi ^2=4.4`$ in the range of the BFK data. A KS test performed on the simulated and observed data sets gives a probability of $`21`$ % that the two distributions are the same.

The bottom line is that the data can be adequately reproduced with a Gaussian model for the jet structure, given some variation in the models parameters (we note that in our simulations, we have assumed that the viewing angle is the agent that determines the jet break time). Each model above was able to reproduce the power-law behavior of the BFK data, the scatter (reflected by the value of $`\chi ^2`$ of the power-law fit), and a KS test probability that shows that the simulated data are not inconsistent with being derived from the same parent distribution as the observed data. It appears, however, that the log-normal variations in $`ϵ_o`$ and the correlated $`ϵ_o-\theta _o`$ variations do the best job in reproducing the data (see Figures 5 and 6). The model in which $`\theta _o`$ varies in general exhibits too much curvature and is less stable to the degree of variation. Although the correlated $`ϵ_o-\theta _o`$ variations do a good job of reprocing the data, the additional constraint that $`ϵ_o\theta _o^2=constant`$ may be considered an unattractive feature of this model. However, we do point out that this constraint is motivated by the observations (Frail et al., 2001, BFK) and may in fact be a physical feature of GRBs.

An interesting aspect of the Gaussian model is that the $`k=2`$ power-law behavior is not extended below values of $`\theta _j`$ $`2^{}`$ and in some cases above $`\theta _j30^{}`$. Figure 7 shows simulations for the correlated $`ϵ_o-\theta _o`$ variations, extendend above and below the range of the BFK data. A turnover is clearly seen at low values of $`\theta _j`$. For the case of either $`ϵ_o`$ or $`\theta _o`$ varying individually, or for the case of the correlated $`ϵ_o-\theta _o`$ with a low value for the average jet width $`5^{}`$, we also find a cutoff at high values of $`\theta _j30^{}`$. We note that Figure 7 uses the same parameters as in Figure 6, where the average jet width is $`20^{}`$. This average jet width can vary and this will affect exactly where the low angle turnover and high angle cutoff appear. Nonetheless, if this model were correct, then we should not see many more bursts with $`\theta _j1^{}`$, and possibly also $`\theta _j30^{}`$. These predictions may be tested with future observations of GRBs, and in fact the low $`\theta _j`$ prediction may have already been seen. Interestingly, BFK discuss several outliers in their sample that appear to be “fast-fading” (possibly because the jet break occured at very early times, implying a very small value for the jet opening angle $`\theta _j`$) and sub-luminous relative to the rest of the sample. This is consistent with the trend predicted by the Gaussian jet structure at small values of $`\theta _j`$.

## 4. Luminosity Functions

### 4.1. Predictions

One of the advantages to the quasi-universal jet configuration, is that it makes definite predictions for the observed luminosity function (LF) of GRBs. For example, as discussed in ZM, the isotropic luminosity function $`N(ϵ)`$ at a given redshift can be determined from the burst angular distribution $`N(\theta )d\theta \mathrm{sin}\theta d\theta \theta d\theta `$. In the power-law model, $`\theta ϵ^{1/k}`$, so that $`N(ϵ)\theta d\theta /dϵϵ^{(1-2/k)}`$. For a Gaussian model, $`N(ϵ)ϵ^1`$. These predictions are derived in the case of no variations in the model parameters. We extend this analysis by simulating luminosity functions, allowing parameters to vary in our power-law and Gaussian models. Using the best fit parameters and variation schemes from the previous analysis, we simulate 500,000 GRBs for each jet structure with the distribution of observing angle following $`N(\theta _v)d\theta _v\mathrm{sin}\theta _vd\theta _v`$, and where the range of the observing angle is from $`0^{}`$ to $`90^{}`$. Again, these simulations hold for luminosity functions at a given redshift.

### 4.2. Power-law Jet Structure

We first test our methods by simulating the GRB LF in the case where $`ϵ(\theta )`$ is a simple power-law (with no parameter variations, and our best fit index of $`k=1.9`$). As expected we obtain a slope of the LF of index $`2`$ (solid line in Figure 8), consistent with the analytical expression of ZM and given above in §4.1. The minimum luminosity of $`10^{51}`$ erg is due to the upper boundary of the observer angle $`\theta _v=90^{}`$. We then simulate the cases where the power-law index $`k`$ varies according to a normal distribution, and $`ϵ_o`$ varies according to both normal and log-normal distributions. The results are shown as dotted, dashed, and dash-dotted lines in Figure 8, respectively. The luminosity functions obtained when we allow parameters to vary are similar to the simple power-law jet at the high luminosity end, being well described by a power-law of index $`2`$ for more than three order of magnitudes. At the low luminosity end, however, the LFs tend to flatten. This flattening is a result of the low-luminosity cutoff present in the simple power-law case. For example, above the cutoff, when we allow parameters to vary there is a compensation between lower and higher luminosities that preserves the overall slope of the luminosity function. However, variations in the parameters near the cutoff cause some GRB luminosities to be pushed below the minimum luminosity, without compensation from GRBs of lower luminosity.

### 4.3. Gaussian Jet Structure

Again, we first simulate the luminosity function of a Gaussian jet, with fixed normalization, $`ϵ_o`$, and characteristic jet width, $`\theta _o`$. The result is a powerlaw of slope -1, shown by the solid line in Figure 10, and consistent with the analystical expression in §4.1. Note that this luminosity function has a maximum luminosity corresponding to an observer angle of $`0^{}`$. We then vary the characteristic angle, $`\theta _o`$, of the Gaussian jet according to a log-normal distribution. The simulated luminosity function is very similar to the luminosity function obtained from constant Gaussian jet model; it has a power-law index of $`1`$ and an upper bound, shown as dotted line in Figure 10. Next, we consider the case where $`ϵ_o`$ varies as log-normal. The result is shown by the dashed line in Figure 10. The luminosity function resembles the case of constant $`ϵ_o`$ and $`\theta _o`$ on the low luminosity end, but steepens at high luminosities. This steepening is due to the same type of effect that caused the flattening at the low luminosity end in the power-law jet case (see §4.2 above) - variations in the parameters near the maximum luminosity cause some GRB luminosities to be pushed above the maximum, without compensation from GRBs of higher luminosity. We also simulate the luminosity function in the case where both $`ϵ_o`$ and $`\theta _o`$ vary, but preserve the relation $`ϵ_o\theta _o^2=constant`$ (see §3). The luminosity function is shown as dash-dotted line in Figure 10. The LF in this case has a slightly flatter power-law index at low luminosities, with a clear break at $`L10^{52}`$ erg and a sharp steepening after that. This break occurs because an anti-correlated $`ϵ_o-\theta _o`$ distribution causes an enhanced pile-up near ($`<\mathrm{lg}(ϵ_o)>,<\mathrm{lg}(\theta _o)>`$) in the $`ϵ-\theta `$ plane, leading to a flattening of the LF at the corresponding luminosity. Finally, we simulate LFs from Gaussian jets where the parameters vary according to a normal distribution; the LFs are shown in Figure 10. The qualitative behavior is similar to the log-normal variation case, although these LFs are steeper at the high luminosity end over a smaller dynamic range.

The luminosity functions in both the power-law and Gaussian jet structures have a definite change of power-law index when variations in the model parameters are included. Power-law jets produce LFs with a slope of $`2`$, but with a dramatic flattening at luminosities below about $`10^{51}`$ erg. Gaussian jets produce LFs with a slope of $`1`$, although varying $`ϵ_o`$, and $`\theta _o`$ and $`ϵ_o`$ in an anti-correlated way, causes the LF to steepen at high luminosities. In particular, the anti-correlated $`ϵ_o-\theta _o`$ case with log-normal parameter variations produces a clear break at $`10^{52}`$ erg, above which there is a steepening with an index of $`2`$.

### 4.4. Comparing with observed data

We would like to compare the predictions for the GRB luminosity function from the quasi-universal jet model of GRBs, with the observed GRB luminosity function. Unfortunately, we are not yet at the point where we can directly measure the GRB LF with any statistical certainty. This is because there are still on a handful $`(33)`$ of GRBs with measured redshifts, and determination of the LF requires large numbers (at least 100) of luminosities from a uniform sample (and a sample with complete and detailed knowledge of the selection effects).

Usually, the GRB LF is estimated by utilizing a large sample of GRBs with a measured flux distribution $`n(f)`$, assuming an underlying density distribution, $`\rho (z)`$, cosmological model, and then computing the luminosity function $`N(L)`$ through the equation $`n(f)df=N(L)\rho (z)/(1+z)(dV/dz)dLdz`$. Note that this assumes independence of the variables $`L`$ and $`z`$, or - in other words - that the luminosity function does not evolve with redshift. Several studies have taken this approach to estimate the GRB LF. For example, Stern et al. (2003) - assuming a steep decline in the GRB source population above a redshift of 1.5 - find $`N(L)L^{1.4}`$ up to $`L3\times 10^{51}`$ erg and then sharply declines after that. Schmidt (2002) - using various models for the GRB rate density based on the estimates for the global star formation rate - find that the GRB luminosity function can be described by a broken power-law with an index $`1`$ on the low luminosity end ($`<3\times 10^{51}`$ erg) and sharply declines after that, consistent with the Stern et al. results. \[All luminosities quoted are the isotropic equivalent luminosities.\] Although these results are fairly uncertain because they rely on the assumption of the underlying GRB rate density, they appear to be marginally consistent with predictions from the Gaussian jet structure. The power-law universal jet may also be consistent with these results if the data is fit with a single power-law such that the steepening of the LF above some break causes an overall steepening of the LF index, closer to $`2`$. \[We note that recently, some attempts have been made to constrain the GRB LF based on the small sample of bursts with direct spectroscopic redshifts. For example, van Putten & Regimbau (2003) find that a log-normal description of the LF does a suitable job of describing the existing data.\]

Although spectroscopic redshifts have only been obtained to a number of GRBs too small to determine a luminosity function directly, in recent years there has been evidence of so-called “luminosity indicators” (Fenimore & Ramirez-Ruiz, 2000, Reichart et al., 2001, Norris et al. 2001) from which luminosities of GRBs can be obtained. For example, Fenimore & Ramirez-Ruiz (2000) found a correlation between GRB luminosity and the light curve variability (an estimate of the “spikiness” of the light curve) based on a small sample of bursts with measured redshifts. From this, they were able to obtain luminosities and redshifts to 220 GRBs. Because they used BATSE gamma-ray data and chose a flux limit to their sample, the selection effects were very well defined and therefore a luminosity function can be estimated. Fenimore & Ramirez-Ruiz assumed independence between $`L`$ and $`z`$ in their sample and found a luminosity function with a power-law index of approximately $`2`$, consistent with the power-law quasi-universal jet configuration. A more detailed analysis of this sample, however, shows that $`L`$ and $`z`$ are in fact correlated (Lloyd-Ronning, Fryer, & Ramirez-Ruiz, 2002, Yonetoku et al. 2003, Graziani et al. 2003); this correlation has to be accounted for to correctly determine a LF from the data. Lloyd-Ronning et al. did this by defining a variable $`L^{}=L/\lambda (z)`$, where $`\lambda (z)`$ parameterizes the correlation between $`L`$ and $`z`$. They found a single power-law fit gives $`N(L^{})L^{2.2}`$, while a broken power-law fit gives $`N(L^{})L^{1.5}`$ for $`L^{}<L_o^{}`$ and $`N(L^{})L^{3.3}`$ for $`L^{}>L_o^{}`$, where $`L_o^{}=5\times 10^{51}`$ erg. Again, there is no underlying assumption about the density distribution of GRBs in this analysis and the correlation between $`L`$ and $`z`$ present in the data has been accounted for. \[We mention that in the context of the quasi-universal jet model, luminosity evolution could imply the overall normalization $`ϵ_o`$ evolves with redshift, or that the characteristic opening of the jet $`\theta _o`$ evolves.\] The single power-law result appears to be more consistent with the power-law quasi-universal jet structure, while the broken power-law result is better described by the (at least qualitative) predictions of the Gaussian case. Finally, Norris (2002) found - using the luminosities and redshifts obtained from the luminosity-lag relation, another luminosity indicator (Norris et al, 2001) - that the GRB LF scales as $`L^1`$ for low luminosities and $`L^{1.8}`$ for high luminosities. This is very similar to the results we obtain for the LF from a Gaussian jet when $`ϵ_o`$ and $`\theta _o`$ vary in an anti-correlated way.

Although some of the above results suggest the plausibility of a Gaussian jet structure for GRBs, the predictions of the quasi-universal jet model GRB LFs are better tested when more GRBs with redshifts are obtained and a direct GRB LF can be measured. This is a primary goal of the Swift satellite, to be launched in June of 2004.

## 5. Summary and Discussion

In this paper, we have tested two possible models for a quasi-universal jet structure to a GRB. In particular, we attempt to reproduce the data of BFK who showed an anti-correlation between the isotropic emitted energy $`E_{iso}`$ and the jet opening angle, $`\theta _j`$ derived in a uniform jet model, such that $`E_{iso}\theta _j^2`$. In the quasi-universal jet model (Rossi et al., 2002, ZM), in which the jet opening angle and total emitted energy are approximately the same for all GRBs, but the energy varies as a function of angle from the jet axis within a GRB, this correlation is a reflection of the energy profile $`ϵ(\theta )`$ as a function of angle from the jet axis. Motivated by ZM, who suggested that this profile may take on different functional forms, we have tested how Gaussian and power-law models for $`ϵ(\theta )`$ reproduce the BFK data. In particular, we have allowed for realistic scatter in the parameters of each model (letting each parameter vary as a either a log-normal or normal distribution with some mean and standard deviation).

We find that both the power-law and Gaussian jet structures can reproduce the data quite well, with only minimal scatter required in the model parameters - particularly when the parameters vary according to the more physically reasonable log-normal distribution. The strengths of the power-law model are its simplicity and ease in reproducing the observed data. However, as discussed in the introduction and throughout the text, there are several reasons to consider other jet configurations, and in particular the Gaussian model appears to adequately describe the observations. Furthermore, The Gaussian model predicts a sharp turnover in the $`E_{iso}-\theta _j`$ plane for low (and in some cases high) values of $`\theta _j`$. This turnover at low jet angles has possibly been observed by BFK, who found a few “sub-luminous” bursts (relative to the rest of their sample), with steeply declining light curves which could indicate a very small opening angle $`\theta _j`$. These “outliers” are consistent with the trend predicted by the Gaussian quasi-universal jet configuration at low $`\theta _j`$. Furthermore, these outlier bursts challenge the BFK conclusion that the energy resevoir in GRBs is approximately constant, when taken in the context of the uniform jet model. However, the measured $`\theta _j`$ is - in the context of the quasi-universal jet paradigm - the viewing angle and not the characteristic width of the jet $`\theta _o`$, which could be larger. This means that the total energy within the GRB could still be standard, if the results are considered in the quasi-universal jet picture with a Gaussian jet structure. We also find that the luminosity function predicted by the Gaussian model, including variations in the model parameters, appears to be consistent with past studies of the luminosity GRB LF, although these predictions are better tested when the GRB LF can be directly measured.

Perna et al. (2003) showed that a universal jet model with a power-law structure (of index of $`2`$) predicts a distribution of break times in the afterglow light curve that is consistent with what is observed. It would be interesting to explore their analysis in the context of the Gaussian model, which is proving to be a viable model for the quasi-unviersal jet structure of GRBs. (Given our results above, we suspect that a Gaussian model may give qualitatively similar results as the power-law.) We note that Lamb et al. (2003) have recently pointed out that the quasi-universal jet model fails to reproduce the large dynamic range of the observed relationship between isotropic energy and spectral peak energy (see, e.g., Amati et al., 2002), which spans not only the "classic" GRB energies (i.e., those of BATSE, from $`50`$ keV to $`1`$ MeV), but also includes so-called X-ray flashes, which have spectral peak energies down to a few keV. Their conclusions are in the framework of a power-law structure for the quasi-universal jet, and such an investigation in the framework of the Gaussian model is underway (Zhang et al., in prep). Furthermore, we comment that the realistic jet struture might not be strictly power-law, Gaussian, nor their simple superpositions; in fact, recent numerical simulations (Zhang, Woosley, & MacFadyen, 2003) indicate a double Gaussian structure for the jet may provide the best description (where one Gaussian is used for the core of the jet and one for the wings). The bottom line is now that we can reproduce the data with varying parameters in these simplified models, we can do it with more realistic models too. And such models may be able to explain all of the observed gamma-ray burst data in the context of a quasi-universal jet configuration.

We would like to thank Dale Frail for sending us a table of the BFK data. We would also like to thank the referee for insightful comments and suggestions that improved this work.