SCIENTIA SINICA Physica, Mechanica & Astronomica, Volume 48, Issue 3: 039505(2018) https://doi.org/10.1360/SSPMA2017-00248

## High redshift gamma-ray bursts as a probe of the early universe and first stars

• AcceptedOct 24, 2017
• PublishedJan 23, 2018
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### Abstract

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most violent explosions in the universe. Thanks totheir extreme brightness, GRBs can be detected up to the edge of the visible universe.As bright beacons in the deep universe, high-redshift GRBs have been considered as an ideal tool toexplore the properties of the early universe: including the dark energy and cosmological parameters,star formation rate, first stars, the reionization and metal enrichment history of the universe.So the detection of high-$z$ GRBs has important scientific significance. Compared to currentmissions, Einstein Probe has a higher sensitivity and a wider field-of-view, operating the softX-ray band (0.5–4 keV), which would be suitable for the detection of high-$z$ GRBs. With itsobservational mode and ability, we compute the expected detection rate of high-$z$ GRBs byEinstein Probe by means of a observational tested population synthesis model of Swift GRBs.Our results show that the detection rates are expected to be about 20 events $\rm~yr^{-1}$ $\rm~sr^{-1}$for $z>6$ bursts, 6 events $\rm~yr^{-1}$ $\rm~sr^{-1}$ for $z>8$ bursts, and 1 events $\rm~yr^{-1}$$\rm~sr^{-1}$ for $z>12$ bursts, respectively. Over the 3 yr lifetime of the mission,Einstein Probe will able to detect about 65 GRBs at $z>6$, including $\sim20$ GRBs at $z>8$ and$\sim3$ GRBs at $z>12$. In sum, Einstein Probe would significantly improve the detection of high-$z$GRBs, and these abundant observational information would probably reveal some scientific mysteries ofthe early universe.

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• Figure 1

(Color online) (a)–(d) Comparison of the properties of $z>6$ bursts (red squares and lines) with those obtained from the bright Swift/BAT sample (black points and lines) [55].

• Figure 2

(Color online) Peak flux distribution of high redshift bursts ($z>6$) as measured in the 15–150 keV Swift/BAT band. The solid (dotted) step represents the distribution of bursts with spectroscopic (spectroscopic and photometric) redshift. The shaded regions show model predictions, taking into account the uncertainties in the determination of the evolution of the GRB luminosity function (or density). Dark (light) color corresponds to the density (luminosity) evolution model. The dashed line is obtained assuming no evolution and clearly underestimates the number of high-$z$ observations at all peak fluxes [55].

• Figure 3

(Color online) Required sensitivity, in terms of minimum peak flux $P_{\Delta~E}$ that can be detected in a given energy band $\Delta~E$, and field-of-view (FOV) to detect 10 GRB yr$^{-1}$ with $z>8$. Different lines represent different energy bands as labeled in the plot. See ref. [58]for the details of the calculation. Adopted from ref. [55].

• Figure 4

(Color online) Same as Figure 3, required sensitivity that can be detected in a given energy band $\Delta~E$, and FOV to detect 10 GRB yr$^{-1}$ with $z>8$. See ref. [58]for the details of the calculation.

• Figure 5

(Color online) Light curve of GRB 090423 as observed by Swift/BAT (redcrosses), Swift/XRT (blue plus) and in the NIR (cyan points). Adopted from ref. [42].

• Figure 6

(Color online) Light curves of GRB 090423 as simulated by EP/WXT at different redshifts.

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