Related papers: Open Questions in GRB Physics
Observations and models of GRBs are reviewed with an emphasis on the early phase of the burst. Recent revision of the early afterglow model is described.
Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) are relativistic cosmological beacons of transient high energy radiation whose afterglows span the electromagnetic spectrum. Theoretical expectations of correlated neutrino emission position GRBs at an astrophysical…
Despite the enormous progress occurred in the last 10 years, the Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) phenomenon is still far to be fully understood. One of the most important open issues that have still to be settled is the afterglow emission above 10…
We show that if the GRB ejecta itself is magnetized or neutron-rich, the very early afterglow of GRBs is very different from that powered by a pure ion fireball. In the Swift era, with the well monitored early afterglow data, we can…
The long lived afterglow emission that follows gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) was predicted prior to its detection in 1997, in the X-rays, optical and radio. It is thought to arise from the shock that is driven into the external medium as the…
The properties of the ambient medium in which GRBs go off are an important piece of the puzzle, not only as an issue in itself, but because of their link with the nature of the progenitor. In this review, I describe and critically comment…
Our understanding of the engines and progenitors of gamma-ray bursts has expanded through the ages as a broader set of diagnostics has allowed us to test our understanding of these objects. Here we review the history of the growth in our…
We selected a sample of 33 Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) detected by Swift, with known redshift and optical extinction at the host frame. For these, we constructed the de-absorbed and K-corrected X-ray and optical rest frame light curves. These…
The overall dynamical evolution and radiation mechanism of $\gamma$-ray burst jets are briefly introduced. Various interesting topics concerning beaming in $\gamma$-ray bursts are discussed, including jet structures, orphan afterglows and…
According to the fireball model GRBs are produced when a relativistic flow is dissipated by shocks. The questions how does a GRB's "inner engine" accelerates and collimated the relativistic flow is today the most interesting (and most…
The most interesting current open question in the theory of GRB afterglow is the propagation of jetted afterglows during the sideway expansion phase. Recent numerical simulations show hydrodynamic behavior that differs from the one…
Despite a generally accepted framework for describing the Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) afterglows, the nature of the compact object at the central engine and the mechanism behind the prompt emission remain debated. The striped jet model is a…
The site and mechanism of gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission is still unknown. Although internal shocks have been widely discussed as the emission site of GRBs, evidence supporting other emission sites have been also suggested recently,…
I discuss some aspects of the evolution of the standard GRB model, emphasizing various theoretical developments in the last decade, and review the impact of some of the most recent observational discoveries and the new challenges they pose…
Discovered over forty years ago, Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) remain a forefront topic in modern astrophysics. Perhaps the most fundamental question associated with GRBs is the nature of the astrophysical agent (or agents) that ultimately powers…
Four years after the launch the Swift satellite the nature of the Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) broadband afterglow behaviour is still an open issue ad the standard external shock fireball models cannot easily explain the puzzling combined…
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…
For over 25 years, the origin of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (lGRBs) has been linked to the collapse of rotating massive stars. However, we have yet to pinpoint the stellar progenitor powering these transients. Moreover, the dominant…
We assume that internal shocks of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) consist of multiple sub-jets with a collimation half-angle $\sim {\rm several }\times\gamma_i^{-1}$, where $\gamma_i$ is the Lorenz factor of each sub-jet. If by chance a sub-jet is…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have puzzled astronomers since their accidental discovery in the late sixties. The BATSE detector on the COMPTON-GRO satellite has been detecting one burst per day for the last six years. Its findings have…