Spectral Lag Transition of 32 Fermi Gamma-Ray Bursts and Their Application on Constraining Lorentz Invariance Violation

Abstract

Abstract The positive-to-negative transition of spectral lag is an uncommon feature reported in a small number of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). An application of such a feature has been made to constrain the critical quantum gravity energy (E QG) of the light photons under the hypothesis that the Lorentz invariance might be violated. Motivated by previous case studies, this paper systematically examined the up-to-date GRB sample observed by Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor for the lag transition feature to establish a comprehensive physical limit on the Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). This search resulted in 32 GRBs with redshift available, which exhibit the lag transition phenomenon. We first fit each of the lag–E relations of the 32 GRBs with an empirical smoothly broken power-law function, and found that the lag transition occurs typically at about 400 keV. We then implemented the LIV effect into the fit, which enabled us to constrain the lower limit of the linear and quadratic values of E QG, which are typically distributed at 1.5 × 1014 and 8 × 105 GeV, respectively.