Related papers: Short-term effects of Gamma Ray Bursts on oceanic …
We present a self-consistent theory, as well as an illustrative application to a realistic system, of phase control of photoabsorption in an optically dense medium. We demonstrate that, when propagation effects are taken into consideration,…
Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) explosions from the first generation of stars offer an exciting opportunity to probe the epoch of reionization. Clues about how and when the intergalactic medium was ionized can be read off their UV emission spectrum.…
Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) detect the Cherenkov light flashes of Extended Air Showers (EAS) triggered by very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays impinging on the Earth's atmosphere. Due to the overwhelming background from hadron…
Recent suggestions of a "photon underproduction crisis" (Kollmeier \etal\ 2014) have generated concern over the intensity and spectrum of ionizing photons in the metagalactic ultraviolet background (UVB). The balance of hydrogen…
The physical origin of gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission (photosphere or synchrotron) is still subject to debate after five decades. Here, firstly we find that many observed characteristics of 15 long GRBs, which have the highest prompt…
Some publications indicate that poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) exhibit low levels of photoluminesence (fluorescence and/or phosphorescence) when irradiated with photons in the ultraviolet (UV) to visible…
In this study, the light curves and spectrum of the photospheric thermal radiation from ultrarelativistic gamma-ray burst (GRB) jets are calculated using 2D relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of jets from a collapsar. As the jet…
Propagation of photons in relativistically expanding plasma outflows, characterized by steady Lorentz factor Gamma is considered. Photons that are injected in regions of high optical depth are advected with the flow until they escape at the…
We present the analysis of photospheric emission for a set of hydrodynamic simulations of long duration gamma-ray burst jets from massive compact stars. The results are obtained by using the Monte Carlo Radiation Transfer code (MCRaT) to…
Photosynthesis converts sunlight into the chemical free energy that feeds the Earth's biosphere, yet at levels much lower than what thermodynamics would allow for. I propose here that photosynthesis is nevertheless thermodynamically…
We present the results of a numerical investigation of the spectra and light curves of the emission from the photospheres of long-duration gamma-ray burst jets. We confirm that the photospheric emission has high efficiency and we show that…
Recent detections of GeV photons in a few GRBs by Fermi-LAT have led to strong constraints on the bulk Lorentz factor in GRB outflows. To avoid a large gamma-gamma optical depth, minimum values of the Lorentz factor have been estimated to…
In this work we report on photochromism in transparent thin film samples of oxygen-containing yttrium hydride. Exposure to visible and ultraviolet (UV) light at moderate intensity triggers a decrease in the optical transmission of visible…
We report the discovery of photomolecular effect: cleavage of water clusters off surfaces by photons. This effect is demonstrated through surprising absorption of partially wetted hydrogel in the visible spectrum where both water and…
We study the possibility to influence the lifetime of nuclear isomeric states with the aid of incident fluxes of photons. We assume that a nucleus initially in an isomeric state |i> first absorbs an incident photon of energy E_{ni} to reach…
The atmospheric response for MeV gamma rays (~ 0.1 - 10 MeV) can be characterized in terms of two observed components. The first component is due to photons that reach the detector without scattering. The second component is due to photons…
An ionizing UV background (UVB) inhibits gas accretion and photo-evaporates gas from the shallow potential wells of small, dwarf galaxies. During cosmological reionization, this effect can result in negative feedback: suppressing…
The 'event' that triggers a gamma ray burst cannot last for more than a few seconds. This is, however, long compared with the dynamical timescale of a compact stellar-mass object ($\sim 10^{-3}$ seconds). Energy is assumed to be released as…
Relativistic outflows in the form of jets are common in many astrophysical objects. By their very nature, jets have angle dependent velocity profiles, Gamma = Gamma(r, theta, phi), where Gamma is the outflow Lorentz factor. In this work we…
Combining results for the local cosmic rate and mean peak luminosity of GRBs with the cosmic history of the star formation rate, we provide estimates for the local GRB rate per unit blue luminosity in galaxies. We find a typical GRB rate…