Related papers: Ten per cent polarized optical emission from GRB 0…
We review the physics of GRB production by relativistic jets that start highly opaque near the central source and then expand to transparency. We discuss dissipative and radiative processes in the jet and how radiative transfer shapes the…
Linear polarization at the level of $\sim 1-3%$ has by now been measured in several gamma-ray burst afterglows. Whereas the degree of polarization, $P$, was found to vary in some sources, the position angle, $\theta_p$, was roughly constant…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powered by relativistic jets that exhibit intermittency over a broad range of timescales - from $ \sim $ ms to seconds. Previous numerical studies have shown that hydrodynamic (i.e., unmagnetized) jets that are…
Magnetic fields play a crucial role in the physics of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). Strong observational evidence indicates that the observed afterglow and most likely the prompt emission arise from synchrotron emission. It is possible that…
The recent claim by Coburn & Boggs to have detected a very high degree of linear polarization in the prompt emission of GRB 021206 has stimulated interest in how much polarization could arise in gamma-ray bursts from synchrotron emission.…
In a recent paper, Rol and colleagues present evidence for a variable polarization in the optical afterglow following the gamma-ray burst GRB 990712. The variation is highly significant, but the position angle appears time independent.…
Significant gravitational wave emission is expected from gamma-ray bursts arising from compact stellar mergers, and possibly also from bursts associated with fast-rotating massive stellar core collapses. These models have in common a high…
The polarimetric measurement on the prompt phase of GRB 100826A shows that the polarization angle changes $\sim 90^{\circ}$ between two adjacent time intervals. We will show that this phenomenon can be naturally interpreted in the framework…
Beamed gamma-ray burst (GRB) sources produce a bow shock in their gaseous environment. The emitted flux from this bow shock may dominate over the direct emission from the jet for lines of sight which are outside the angular radius of the…
We report early optical linear polarization observations of two gamma-ray bursts made with the MASTER robotic telescope network. We found the minimum polar- ization for GRB150301B to be 8% at the beginning of the initial stage, whereas we…
Linear polarization have been observed in both the prompt phase and afterglow of some bright gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Polarization in the prompt phase spans a wide range, and may be as high as $\gtrsim 50\%$. In the afterglow phase,…
We report the optical polarization of a gamma ray burst (GRB) afterglow, obtained 203 seconds after the initial burst of gamma rays from GRB 060418, using a ring polarimeter on the robotic Liverpool Telescope. Our robust (2-sigma) upper…
We consider a model in which the ultra-relativistic jet in a gamma-ray burst (GRB) is cold and magnetically accelerated. We assume that the energy flux in the outflowing material is partially thermalized via internal shocks or a reverse…
Most Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have erratic light curves, which demand that the GRB central engine launches an episodic outflow. Recent Fermi observations of some GRBs indicate a lack of the thermal photosphere component as predicted by the…
We present polarimetric observations of the afterglow of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 021004, obtained with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) between 8 and 17 hours after the burst. Comparison among the…
The recent claim of a high degree of linear polarization in the prompt gamma-ray burst (GRB) emission of GRB 021206 might have important implications for the underlying mechanism ultimately responsible for the GRB radiation. While the claim…
The polarization of the prompt $\gamma$-ray emission has been measured in four bright gamma ray bursts (GRBs). It was nearly maximal in all cases, as predicted by the Cannonball (CB) model of GRBs long before the observations. These results…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are most probably powered by collimated relativistic outflows (jets) from accreting black holes at cosmological distances. Bright afterglows are produced when the outflow collides with the ambient medium. Afterglow…
We review some open problems in the physics of afterglows, namely their polarization properties and the existence of dark/faint bursts. Polarization studies yield precious insights in the physical structure and dynamical evolution of GRB…
Observations by the {\RHESSI} satellite of large polarization of the prompt $\gamma$-ray emission from the Gamma Ray Burst GRB021206 \citep{coburn03} imply that the magnetic field coherence scale is larger than the size of the visible…