Related papers: Re-born fireballs in Gamma-Ray Bursts
A pedagogical derivation is presented of the ``fireball'' model of gamma-ray bursts, according to which the observable effects are due to the dissipation of the kinetic energy of a relativistically expanding wind, a ``fireball.'' The main…
It is generally believed that cosmological Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are produced by the deceleration of relativistic objects with Lorentz factor (Gamma) >~ 100. We study the possibility that some GRBs are produced along with relativistic…
(Abridged) We interpret gamma ray bursts as relativistic, electromagnetic explosions. Specifically, we propose that they are created when a rotating, relativistic, stellar-mass progenitor loses much of its rotational energy in the form of a…
Recent gamma-ray burst observations have revealed late-time, highly energetic events which deviate from the simplest expectations of the standard fireball picture. Instead they may indicate that the central engine is active or restarted at…
If gamma ray bursts are highly collimated, the energy requirements of each event may be reduced by several (~ 4-6) orders of magnitude, and the event rate increased correspondingly. Extreme conditions in gamma ray bursters lead to highly…
The internal/external synchrotron shock scenario has proved very successful in interpreting the key observations about gamma ray bursts. There still remains, however, some big uncertainties. The hottest issue concerns the nature of the…
The sudden release of copious $\g$-ray photons into a compact region creates an opaque photon--lepton fireball due to the prolific production of electron--positron pairs. The photons that we observe in the bursts emerge only at the end of…
Whatever the ultimate energy source of gamma-ray bursts turns out to be, the resulting sequence of physical events is likely to lead to a fairly generic, almost unavoidable scenario: a relativistic fireball that dissipates its energy after…
We investigate, independently of specific emission models, the constraints on the value of the bulk Lorentz factor Gamma of a fireball. We assume that the burst emission comes from internal shocks in a region transparent to Thomson…
We numerically model the interaction between an expanding fireball and a stationary external medium whose density is either homogeneous or varies with distance as a power-law. The evolution is followed until most of the fireball kinetic…
We study the dynamics of relativistic electromagnetic explosions as a possible mechanism for the production of Gamma-Ray Bursts. We propose that a rotating relativistic stellar-mass progenitor loses much of its spin energy in the form of an…
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) - short bursts of 100-1MeV photons arriving from random directions in the sky are probably the most relativistic objects discovered so far. Still, somehow they did not attract the attention of the relativistic…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are a mixed class of sources consisting of, at least, the long duration and short-hard subclasses, the X-ray flashes, and the low-luminosity GRBs. In all cases, the release of enormous amounts of energy on a short…
We consider models for gamma-ray bursts in which a collimated jet expands either into a homogeneous medium or into a stellar wind environment, and calculate the expected afterglow temporal behavior. We show that (i) following a break and a…
We present a model for relativistic jets which generates a particular angular distribution of Lorentz factor and energy per solid angle. We consider a fireball with specific internal energy E/M launched with bulk Lorentz factor \gamma_B.…
Observations imply that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are produced by the dissipation of the kinetic energy of a highly relativistic fireball. Photo-meson interactions of protons with gamma-rays within the fireball dissipation region are expected…
Progenitor stars of long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) could be surrounded by a significant and complex nebula structure lying at a parsec scale distance. After the initial release of energy from the GRB jet, the jet will interact with this…
We consider fireball models where the ejecta have a range of bulk Lorentz factors, so that the inner (lower $\Gamma$) parts may carry most of the mass, or even most of the energy. The outer shock and contact discontinuity decelerate as the…
Recent studies of photon-generation mechanisms in the color-superconducting Color-Flavor Locked (CFL) phase of dense quark matter have found gamma-ray emissivities in excess of ~ 10^{50} erg cm^{-3} s^{-1} for temperatures in the 10-30 MeV…
If gamma ray bursts are highly collimated, radiating into only a small fraction of the sky, the energy requirements of each event may be reduced by several (up to 4 - 6) orders of magnitude, and the event rate increased correspondingly. The…