Abstract We analyzed a sample of 66 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and statistically confirmed the prediction on the time curve of the hardness ratio of GRBs made by Qin et al. based on the curvature effect. In their analysis, GRB pulses are divided into three types according to the shape of their raw hardness ratio (RHR) time curves, defined as to include the background counts to the signal counts, so as to make use of counts within small time intervals. Of the three types, very hard sources exhibit a perfect pulse-like profile (type 1), hard bursts possess a pulse-like profile with a dip in the decay phase (type 2), and soft bursts show no pulse-like profile but have only a dipped profile (type 3). In terms of the conventional hardness ratio, type 3 sources are indeed generally softer than those of type 1 and type 2, in agreement with the prediction. We found that the minimum value of RHR is sensitive in distinguishing the different types. We propose that GRB pulses can be classified according to the minimum value of RHR and that the different type sources may be connected with different strengths of the shock or/and the magnetic field.
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