Quasiperiodic oscillations in the light curve of GRB 080319B

Abstract

A modified spectral analysis technique is used to study the temporal structure of the emission from the γ-ray burst GRB 080319B detected in three space missions, Swift/BAT, Wind/KONUS, and Integral/SPI ACS. The energy range of the γ rays detected in these experiments covers 15-10000 keV. The time resolution for the first two of these experiments was 64 ms and for the third, 50 ms. Quasiperiodic oscillations with periods from 0.6 s to 6 s were observed. To within the time resolution, the oscillations with periods of 1.28, 0.89, and 0.64 s are the second, third, and fourth harmonics, respectively, of oscillations with a period of 2.56 s, while oscillations with a period of 0.96 s are the third harmonic of oscillations with a period of 2.94 s. The behavior of the quasiperiodic components is examined as a function of the phase of the events. Possible physical mechanisms for the quasiperiodic oscillations in the light curves of γ-ray bursts are discussed.