Possible physical explanation of the intrinsic Ep,i-“intensity” correlation commonly used to “standardize” GRBs

Abstract

It is recognized that very likely the correlation between peak energy Ep and bolometric intensity is intrinsic to GRBs. However, its physical origin is still debated. In this paper, we will discuss a possible interpretation of the correlation in the light of a GRB prompt emission spectral model, GRBCOMP, proposed in [L. Titarchuk, R. Farinelli, F. Frontera and L. Amati, Astrophys. J. 752 (2012) 116]. GRBCOMP is essentially a photospheric model for the prompt emission of GRBs. Its main ingredients are a thermal bath of soft seed photons and a subrelativistically expanding outflow plasma, consequence of the star explosion. The emerging spectrum is the result of two phases: first, up to the photospheric radius, Comptonization of a subrelativistic electron outflow with thermal bath of soft photons, then, convolution of the Comptonized photons in the first phase with a Green function. The result of this convolution is consistent with different physical processes, in particular Inverse Compton. GRBCOMP has been successfully tested using a significant sample of GRB time resolved spectra in the broad energy band from 2keV to 2MeV [F. Frontera, L. Amati, R. Farinelli, S. Dichiara, C. Guidorzi, R. Landi and L. Titarchuk, Astrophys. J. 779 (2013) 175].