2006MNRAS.372..233A

The correlation between the cosmological rest-frame νF_ν spectrum peak energy, E_p,i, and the isotropic-equivalent radiated energy, E_iso, discovered by Amati et al. in 2002 and confirmed/extended by subsequent osbervations, is one of the most intriguing and debated observational evidences in gamma-ray burst (GRB) astrophysics. In this paper, I provide an update and a re-analysis of the E_p,i-E_iso correlation basing on an updated sample consisting of 41 long GRBs/X-ray flashes (XRFs) with firm estimates of z and observed peak energy, E_p,obs, 12 GRBs with uncertain values of z and/or E_p,obs, two short GRBs with firm estimates of z and E_p,obs and the peculiar subenergetic events GRB 980425/SN1998bw and GRB 031203/SN2003lw. In addition to standard correlation analysis and power-law fitting, the data analysis here reported includes modelling that accounts for sample variance. All 53 classical long GRBs and XRFs, including 11 Swift events with published spectral parameters and fluences, have E_p,i and E_iso values, or upper/lower limits, consistent with the correlation, which shows a chance probability as low as ∼7x10^–15, a slope of ∼0.57 (∼0.5 when fitting by accounting for sample variance) and an extra-Poissonian logarithmic dispersion of ∼0.15, it extends over ∼5 orders of magnitude in E_iso and ∼3 orders of magnitude in E_p,i and holds from the closer to the higher z GRBs. Subenergetic GRBs (980425 and possibly 031203) and short GRBs are found to be inconsistent with the E_p,i-E_iso correlation, showing that it can be a powerful tool for discriminating different classes of GRBs and understanding their nature and differences. I also discuss the main implications of the updated E_p,i-E_iso correlation for the models of the physics and geometry of GRB emission, its use as a pseudo-redshift estimator and the tests of possible selection effects with GRBs of unknown redshift.