Related papers: Gamma-ray burst afterglow light curves from a Lore…
The quick and precise localization of GRBs by the Swift telescope allows the early evolution of the afterglow light curve to be captured by ground-based telescopes. With GROND measurements we can investigate the optical/near-infrared light…
The dynamics of GRB jets during the afterglow phase is most reliably and accurately modelled using hydrodynamic simulations. All published simulations, however, have considered only a uniform external medium, while a stratified external…
The most luminous GRBs can be explained in terms of models involving stellar mass central engines only if the ejecta are beamed. As was pointed out by Rhoads, the dynamics of the blast wave, formed by the beamed ejecta sweeping the external…
Gamma-ray burst (GRB) jets are narrow, and thus typically point away from us. They are initially ultra-relativistic, causing their prompt $\gamma$-ray and early afterglow emission to be beamed away from us. However, as the jet gradually…
We investigate the effect that the structure of GRB jets has on the afterglow light curves for observers located at different viewing angles, $\theta_{obs}$, from the jet symmetry axis. The largest uncertainty in the jet dynamics is the…
The Swift mission has discovered an intriguing feature of Gamma-Ray Burst (GRBs) afterglows, a phase of shallow decline of the flux in the X-ray and optical lightcurves. This behaviour is typically attributed to energy injection into the…
We examine a sample of 21 gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow light curves at radio frequencies, and compare them to the X-ray and/or optical properties of the afterglows and to the predictions of the standard jet/fireball model. Our sample…
The steepening (break) of the power-law fall-off observed in the optical emission of some GRB afterglows at epoch ~1 day is often attributed to a collimated outflow (jet), undergoing lateral spreading. Wider opening GRB ejecta with a…
The ultra-relativistic outflows powering gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) acquire angular structure through their interaction with external material. They are often characterized by a compact, nearly uniform narrow core (with half-opening angle…
Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) collimation has been inferred with the observations of achromatic steepening in GRB light curves, known as jet breaks. Identifying a jet break from a GRB afterglow lightcurve allows a measurement of the jet opening…
Since its launch in 2004, the Swift satellite has monitored the X-ray afterglows of several hundred Gamma-Ray Bursts, and revealed that their X-ray light-curves are more complex than previously thought, exhibiting up to three power-law…
The jet breaks in the afterglow lightcurves of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs), rarely detected so far, are crucial for estimating the half-opening angles of the ejecta ($\theta_{\rm j}$) and hence the neutron star merger rate. In this work…
Synchrotron and inverse Compton emission successfully explain the observed spectra of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows. It is thought that most GRBs are products of extremely relativistic outflows and the afterglow marks the interaction of…
We present a powerful new tool for fitting broadband gamma-ray burst afterglow data, which can be used to determine the burst explosion parameters and the synchrotron radiation parameters. By making use of scale invariance between…
The observed behavior of a short gamma-ray burst (sGRB) afterglow lightcurve can reveal the angular structure of the relativistic jet and constrain the observer's viewing angle $\theta_\textrm{obs}$. Regardless of viewing angle, the…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powered by ultra-relativistic jets. The launching sites of these jets are surrounded by dense media, which the jets must cross before they can accelerate and release the high energy emission. Interaction with the…
Using the 2.4m MDM and 8.4m Large Binocular Telescope, we observed nine GRB afterglows to systematically probe the late time behaviors of afterglows including jet breaks, flares, and supernova bumps. In particular, the LBT observations have…
We have performed detailed calculations of spectra and light curves of GRB afterglows assuming that the observed GRBs can have a jet geometry. The calculations are based on an expanding relativistic shock GRB afterglow model where the…
Since the gravitational wave event GW170817 and gamma-ray burst GW170817A there have been numerous studies constraining the burst properties through analysis of the afterglow light curves. Most agree that the burst was viewed off-axis with…
X-ray flashes (XRFs) and X-ray rich gamma-ray bursts (XRGRBs) share many observational characteristics with long duration GRBs, but the reason for which their prompt emission peaks at lower photon energies, $E_p$, is still under debate.…