Directed Relativistic Blast Wave
Astrophysics
2007-05-23 v1
Abstract
A spherically symmetrical ultra-relativistic blast wave is not an attractor of a generic asymmetric explosion. Spherical symmetry is reached only by the time the blast wave slows down to non-relativistic velocities, when the Sedov-Taylor-von Neumann attractor solution sets in. We show however, that a directed relativistic explosion, with the explosion momentum close to the explosion energy, produces a blast wave with a universal intermediate asymptotic -- a selfsimilar directed ultra-relativistic blast wave. This universality might be of interest for the astrophysics of gamma-ray burst afterglows.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0704.3081,
title = {Directed Relativistic Blast Wave},
author = {Andrei Gruzinov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0704.3081},
year = {2007}
}