Iron line afterglows: general constraints
Astrophysics
2009-10-31 v1
Abstract
The discovery of a powerful and transient iron line feature in the X-ray afterglow spectra of gamma-ray bursts would be a major breakthrough for understanding the nature of their progenitors, strongly suggesting the presence of a large, iron rich, mass in the vicinity of the burst event. Model-independent limits to the size and the mass of the the iron line emitting region are derived and discussed. We also discuss how these results can be used to constrain the amount of beaming or anisotropy of the burst emission.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9906234,
title = {Iron line afterglows: general constraints},
author = {Gabriele Ghisellini and Davide Lazzati and Sergio Campana},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9906234},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
2 pages, A&AS in press, proceedings of the Workshop "Gamma Ray Bursts in the Afterglow Era" held in Rome, November 1998