Batse gamma-ray burst line search. III. Line detectability

We evaluate the ability of the BATSE spectroscopy detectors to detect the absorption lines observed by Ginga in gamma-ray burst spectra. We find that BATSE can detect the 20.6 keV line in the S1 segment of GB 870303 with a detection probability of ∼1/4 in nearly normal incident bursts, with the probability dropping off to nearly 0 at a burst angle of 50°; the lines at 19.4 and 38.8 keV in GB 880205 have a high detection probability in BATSE up to burst angles of 75°. In addition, we calculate detection probabilities for these two line types as a function of signal-to-noise ratio and burst angle for use in detailed comparisons between BATSE and Ginga. Finally, we consider the probability averaged over the sky of detecting a line feature with the actual array of BATSE detectors on CGRO