ARE GAMMA-RAY BURSTS INDEED CORRELATED WITH ABELL CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES?

摘要

We study the possible correlation of a selected sample of 87 gamma-ray bursts that can be localized to ≤ 6 deg~2 with 3616 Abell clusters of galaxies (with |b| > 30°) for which we have determined angular sizes. The intention is to confirm whether the bursts are related to Abell clusters of galaxies, as has been claimed by researchers who found a 95% confidence level correlation between Abell clusters and a subsample of 136 events from the BATSE 3B catalog. We find no correlation between the positions of gamma-ray bursts and those of Abell clusters. In fact, the number of observed events toward Abell clusters is even smaller than that expected to occur at random.