Precursors of short gamma-ray bursts in the SPI-ACS/INTEGRAL experiment

Abstract

We have analyzed the light curves of 519 short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected in the SPI-ACS/INTEGRAL experiment from December 2002 toMay 2014 to search for precursors (a possible activity of the GRB source before the beginning of themain episode). Both the light curves of 519 individual events and the averaged light curve of 372 brightest bursts have been analyzed. In several cases, we have found and thoroughly studied precursor candidates based on SPI-ACS/INTEGRAL, GBM/Fermi, and LAT/Fermi data. A statistical analysis of the averaged light curve for the entire sample of short bursts has revealed no regular precursor. Upper limits for the relative intensity of precursors have been estimated. We have compared our results with those of other authors; no convincing evidence for the existence of precursors of short GRBs has been found. We show that the fraction of short GRBs with precursors is less than 0.4% of all short bursts.