Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lu, Rui-Jing, Chen, Wen-Hao, Liang, Wen-Qiang, Peng, Cheng-Feng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.09968
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866913266090901504
author Lu, Rui-Jing
Chen, Wen-Hao
Liang, Wen-Qiang
Peng, Cheng-Feng
author_facet Lu, Rui-Jing
Chen, Wen-Hao
Liang, Wen-Qiang
Peng, Cheng-Feng
contents The properties of the progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and of their environment are encoded in their luminosity function and cosmic formation rate. They are usually recovered from a flux-limited sample based on Lynden-Bell's $c^{-}$ method. However, this method is based on the assumption that the luminosity is independent of the redshift. Observationally, if correlated, people use nonparametric $τ$ statistical method to remove this correlation through the transformation, $L^{\prime}=L/g(z)$, where $z$ is the burst redshift, and $g(z)=(1+z)^{k}$ parameterizes the underlying luminosity evolution. However, the application of this method to different observations could result in very different luminosity functions. By the means of Monte Carlo simulation, in this paper, we demonstrate that the origin of an observed correlation, measured by the $τ$ statistical method, is a complex combination of multiple factors when the underlying data are correlated. Thus, in this case, it is difficult to unbiasedly reconstruct the underlying population distribution from a truncated sample, unless the detailed information of the intrinsic correlation is accurately known in advance. In addition, we argue that an intrinsic correlation between luminosity function and formation rate is unlikely eliminated by a misconfigured transformation, and the $g(z)$, derived from a truncated sample with the $τ$ statistical method, does not necessarily represent its underlying luminosity evolution.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_09968
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Reconstruction of luminosity function from flux-limited samples
Lu, Rui-Jing
Chen, Wen-Hao
Liang, Wen-Qiang
Peng, Cheng-Feng
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The properties of the progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and of their environment are encoded in their luminosity function and cosmic formation rate. They are usually recovered from a flux-limited sample based on Lynden-Bell's $c^{-}$ method. However, this method is based on the assumption that the luminosity is independent of the redshift. Observationally, if correlated, people use nonparametric $τ$ statistical method to remove this correlation through the transformation, $L^{\prime}=L/g(z)$, where $z$ is the burst redshift, and $g(z)=(1+z)^{k}$ parameterizes the underlying luminosity evolution. However, the application of this method to different observations could result in very different luminosity functions. By the means of Monte Carlo simulation, in this paper, we demonstrate that the origin of an observed correlation, measured by the $τ$ statistical method, is a complex combination of multiple factors when the underlying data are correlated. Thus, in this case, it is difficult to unbiasedly reconstruct the underlying population distribution from a truncated sample, unless the detailed information of the intrinsic correlation is accurately known in advance. In addition, we argue that an intrinsic correlation between luminosity function and formation rate is unlikely eliminated by a misconfigured transformation, and the $g(z)$, derived from a truncated sample with the $τ$ statistical method, does not necessarily represent its underlying luminosity evolution.
title Reconstruction of luminosity function from flux-limited samples
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.09968