Evidence for a Canonical Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Light Curve in the Swift XRT Data

@article{Nousek2006EvidenceFA,
  title={Evidence for a Canonical Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Light Curve in the Swift XRT Data},
  author={J A Nousek and Chryssa Kouveliotou and Dirk Grupe and Kim Page and Jonathan Granot and Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz and S. K. Patel and David N. Burrows and Valeria Mangano and Scott Douglas Barthelmy and A P Beardmore and Sergio Campana and M. Capalbi and Guido L. Chincarini and G Cusumano and Abraham D. Falcone and Neil Gehrels and Paolo Giommi and Mike R. Goad and Olivier Godet and Cheryl Hurkett and Jamie A. Kennea and Alberto Moretti and P. T. O’Brien and J. P. Osborne and Patrizia Romano and Gianpiero Tagliaferri and Alan A. Wells},
  journal={The Astrophysical Journal},
  year={2006},
  volume={642},
  pages={389-400}
}
We present new observations of the early X-ray afterglows of the first 27 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) well observed by the Swift X-Ray Telescope (XRT). The early X-ray afterglows show a canonical behavior, where the light curve broadly consists of three distinct power-law segments: (1) an initial very steep decay (/t � � with 3P � 1 P5), followed by (2) a very shallow decay (0:5P � 2 P1:0), and finally (3) a somewhat steeper decay (1P � 3 P1:5). These power-law segments are separated by two… Expand
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