Related papers: X-ray flares and their relation to the inner engin…
We present observations of the early X-ray emission for a sample of 40 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) obtained using the Swift satellite for which the narrow-field instruments were pointed at the burst within 10 minutes of the trigger. Using data…
X-ray afterglow light curves have been collected for over 400 Swift gamma-ray bursts with nearly half of them having X-ray flares superimposed on the regular afterglow decay. Evidence suggests that gamma-ray prompt emission and X-ray flares…
The X-ray light curves of hundreds of bursts are now available, thanks to the X-ray Telescope on board the Swift satellite, on time scales from ~1 minute up to weeks and in some cases months from the burst explosion. These data allow us to…
One of the most impressive recent discovery of SWIFT is the evidence that X-ray flares occurring during the GRB afterglows are quite common, being observed in roughly 50% of the afterglows. These X-ray flares range fluences comparable with…
I discuss some theoretical expectations for the synchrotron emission from a relativistic blast-wave interacting with the ambient medium, as a model for GRB afterglows, and compare them with observations. An afterglow flux evolving as a…
X-ray flares detected in nearly half of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows are one of the most intriguing phenomena in high-energy astrophysics. All the observations indicate that the central engines of bursts, after the gamma-ray emission…
Late activity of the central engine is often invoked in order to explain the flares observed in the early X-ray afterglow of gamma-ray bursts, either in the form of an active neutron star remnant or (fall-back) accretion onto a black hole.…
X-ray flares are generally supposed to be produced by the later central engine activities, and may share the similar physical origin with prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In this paper, we have analyzed all significant X-ray…
The recent detection of X-ray flares during the afterglow phase of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) suggests an inner-engine origin, at radii inside the forward shock. There must be inverse Compton (IC) emission arising from such flare photons…
(Abridged) The Swift X-Ray Telescope (XRT) reveals some interesting features of early X-ray afterglows, including a distinct rapidly decaying component preceding the conventional afterglow component in many sources, a shallow decay…
We show that the X-ray and $\gamma$-ray spectra of Swift GRBs and their afterglows are consistent with the emission characteristic of an expanding, relativistic fireball. The classical afterglow due to the impact of the fireball on the…
The X-ray light curves of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) display complex features, including plateaus and flares, that challenge theoretical models. Here, we study the properties of flares that are observed in the early afterglow phase (up to a…
We develop a model to explain the flaring activity in gamma-ray burst X-ray afterglows within the framework of slightly misaligned observers to structured jets. We suggest that flares could be the manifestation of prompt dissipation within…
We present observations of XRF 050406, the first burst detected by Swift showing a flare in its X-ray light curve. During this flare, which peaks at t_peak ~210s after the BAT trigger, a flux variation of (delta F)/F~6 in a very short time…
As indicated by the observed X-ray flares, a great amount of energy could be intermediately released from the postburst central engine of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). As a natural consequence, the GRB external shock could be energized over and…
Intense flares that occur at late times relative to the prompt phase have been observed by the $Swift$ satellite in the X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Here, we present a detailed analysis on the fall back accretion process to…
The unique capability of the Swift satellite to perform a prompt and autonomous slew to a newly detected Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) has yielded the discovery of interesting new properties of GRB X-ray afterglows, such as the steep early…
We present a numerical simulation of a gamma-ray burst jet from a long-lasting engine in the core of a 16 solar mass Wolf-Rayet star. The engine is kept active for 6000 s with a luminosity that decays in time as a power-law with index -5/3.…
We develop a model of early X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray bursts originating from the reverse shock (RS) propagating through ultra-relativistic, highly magnetized pulsar-like winds produced by long-lasting central engines. We first perform…
Simultaneous Swift and Fermi observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) offer a unique broadband view of their afterglow emission, spanning more than ten decades in energy. We present the sample of X-ray flares observed by both Swift and Fermi…