BREAKFAST: A Framework for general joint BA duty and follow-up guidance of multiple $γ$-ray monitors

TL;DR

BREAKFAST delivers a unified, multi-instrument framework to support Burst Advocates in TDAMM by integrating triggers, data products, and rapid analyses from internal (GECAM, HXMT, SVOM) and external (GBM, Swift, IPN) gamma-ray instruments. It combines Trigger, Analysis, and Interactive modules to automate prompt processing, enable cross-instrument localization via ETJASMIN/Li-CCF, and provide X-ray afterglow predictions to guide follow-up. Case studies across bright GRBs, high-z events, merger-origin bursts, magnetar phenomena, and upper-limit reporting demonstrate practical effectiveness and community impact, while acknowledging areas for future ML-driven parameter adaptation and optical/radio afterglow modeling. The work sets a foundation for broader TDAMM collaboration and future expansion of cross-constellation joint duties through platforms like AstroBurstHub.

Abstract

With the growing number of gamma-ray monitors in operation, several research teams have adopted a strategy of joint operation and scientific duty to improve efficiency. A successful example is the GECAM-HXMT-SVOM (GHS) constellation collaboration, which sets a precedent for other gamma-ray monitor constellations. However, joint duty also presents challenges to Burst Advocates (BAs), including the increased number of triggers and, more importantly, the frequent switching between various systems due to incompatibilities among different missions, which complicates the situation. To address the current requirements of multi-wavelength and multi-messenger astronomy, we developed a customized framework for unified trigger processing within the GHS joint duty, named "BA's Rapid Evaluation and Analysis Kit for Formulating Alerts and Summary Tools" (BREAKFAST). This framework incorporates a series of automated, semi-automated, and manual pipelines designed to rapidly process triggers of prompt emissions in the gamma-ray band from different instruments, while maintaining flexible compatibility for future missions. The pursuit of BREAKFAST goes beyond merely providing trigger processing for BAs. BREAKFAST also aims to filtering high-value targets and guiding follow-up telescopes through rapid analysis and reporting, thus serving as an important bridge between prompt emission observations and afterglow observations. To this end, a suite of comprehensive analysis modules is included in BREAKFAST, particularly the specially designed module that predicts X-ray afterglow brightness based on prompt emission properties. The framework's effectiveness has already been demonstrated in recent observational campaigns, and it is expected to play a significant role in the discovery and observation of peculiar transients in the future.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: The instruments with their various types of data utilized in BREAKFAST. The time delay from trigger time to being available for scientific analysis for each type of data is also labeled roughly. The green part includes the internal instruments and the blue part includes the external instruments. The rectangle represents the data type with good localization capacity, while the rounded rectangle represents the data type with poor or even no localization capacity.
• Figure 2: The architecture of BREAKFAST framework. The new received triggers, including both internal triggers and external triggers, will waken the automatic analysis flow. If it is a new trigger (with no time coincidence with any previous triggers), the automatic analysis will be directly performed on all internal instrument data that has already been received. While if there is a time coincidence with past triggers (in which case, the triggers that match in time will be automatically merged into one burst), it will first be determined whether the burst information needs to be updated. If the burst information is updated, the automatic analysis will be re-conducted. For semi-automatic analysis flow and manual analysis flow, the trigger information can be input via terminal or webpage interface. The analysis result will be output and combined as a PDF file, which will be posted to BA by E-mail or checked via a webpage. The follow-up observation will be requested by BA after evaluating the importance with the analysis result provided by BREAKFAST.
• Figure 3: The analysis for triggers includes in BREAKFAST. The rectangle represents some analysis process or basic data products in a unified format for multiple instruments, while the rounded rectangle represents the analysis results that can be used for preliminary science discussion.
• Figure 4: Part of BREAKFAST analysis results of bright burst GRB 250516B. (a) and (b), the GECAM-B and HXMT lightcurve of GRB 250516B. (c) and (d), the localization of GRB 250516B on the diagram of $T_{90}$-E$_{\rm peak}$ and $T_{90}$-Fluence diagram. (e) and (f), the localization of GRB 250516B on the Amati relation diagram and Yonetoku relation diagram.
• Figure 5: X-ray afterglow prediction result of two EP/WXT-afterglow-detected GRB 250407A and GRB 250919A. The solid line in blues and reds are the flux lightcurve prediction of X-ray afterglow based on observation prompt emission with different redshift assumptions. Each line of the flux lightcurve prediction has four diamond-shaped points, which represent the time since of 300 seconds, 1 hour, 11 hours, and 1 day after the trigger in the rest frame. The black circles are the X-ray afterglow detected by Swift/XRT. The background gray line is all the X-ray afterglow flux lightcurve in the observer frame detected by Swift/XRT xrt_catalog_1xrt_catalog_2. The black dashed line represents the sensitivity of EP/WXT, which is about $10^{-11} \rm \, erg \cdot cm^{-2} \cdot s ^{-1}$ in 0.4-5 keV. The red star in (a) is the unabsorbed 0.5-4 keV flux of GRB 250407A afterglow detected by EP/WXT 250407A_EP_GCN. The spectral parameters of prompt emission is the same with 250407A_GRM_GCN and 250919A_GRM_GCN.