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On-Axis Orphan Afterglows

Astrophysics 2009-11-07 v4

Abstract

In many GRB inner engine models the highly relativistic GRB jets are engulfed by slower moving matter. This could result in different beaming for the prompt γ\gamma-ray emission and for the lower energy afterglow. In this case we should expect that some observer will see {\it on-axis orphan afterglows}: X-ray, optical and radio afterglows within the initial relativistic ejecta with no preceding GRB; The prompt γ\gamma-ray emission is pointing elsewhere. We show that the observations of the WFC on BeppoSAX constrain with high certainty the prompt X-ray beaming factor to be less than twice the prompt γ\gamma-ray beaming. The results of Ariel 5 are consistent with this interpretation. The RASS from ROTSE and HEAO-1 constrain the X-ray beaming factor at 400 and 20 minutes after the burst respectively to be comparable and certainly not much larger than the γ\gamma-ray beaming factor. There is no direct limit on the optical beaming. However, we show that observations of several months with existing hardware could result in a useful limit on the optical beaming factor of GRB afterglows.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0207400,
  title  = {On-Axis Orphan Afterglows},
  author = {Ehud Nakar and Tsvi Piran},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0207400},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

19 pages 5 figures. A revised and extended version, 3 new figures added