Related papers: Relativistic shock breakout from a stellar wind
Most recent extragalactic models of gamma-ray bursts consider the expansion of a relativistic blast wave, emanating from a solar-mass type progenitor, into the surrounding interstellar medium as the site for their activity. The popular…
Supercriticality of the same kind as that in a nuclear pile can take place in high-energy astrophysical objects producing a number of impressive effects. For example, it could cause an explosive release of the energy of a cloud of…
The gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) of long duration are very likely to be connected to the death of massive stars. The gamma-ray emission is believed to come from energy released internally in a flow that moves at ultrarelativistic speed. The fast…
Recent analytical and numerical work argue that successful relativistic Fermi acceleration requires a weak magnetization of the unshocked plasma, all the more so at high Lorentz factors. The present paper tests this conclusion by computing…
We suggest that neutron star mergers eject an ultra-relativistic envelope of mass $m\sim 10^{-7}M_\odot$, which helps explain the gamma-ray burst from GW170817. One ejection mechanism is the ablation of the neutron star surface by the burst…
It is proposed that the gamma ray burst photons near the peak of the spectrum at several hundred KeV are produced on very compact scales, where photon production is limited by blackbody effects and/or the requirement of energetic quanta…
Relativistic strongly magnetized winds outflowing from fast-rotating compact objects like millisecond pulsars with surface magnetic fields of $\sim 10^{15}-10^{16}$ G are plausible sources of cosmological $\gamma$-ray bursts. In such winds,…
Sub-photospheric shock dissipation is one of the main proposed mechanisms for producing the prompt gamma-ray burst (GRB) emission. Such shocks are mediated by scattering of radiation. We introduce a time dependent, special relativistic code…
We discuss the possibility that gamma-ray bursts result from internal shocks in an ultra-relativistic matter. Using a simple model we calculate the temporal structure and we estimate the efficiency of this process. In this model the…
Photospheric emission may originate from relativistic outflows in two qualitatively different regimes:\ last scattering of photons inside the outflow at the photospheric radius, or radiative diffusion to the boundary of the outflow. In this…
The rapid time variability of gamma-ray bursts implies the sources are very compact, and the peak luminosities are so high that some matter must be ejected at ultra-relativistic speeds. The very large Lorentz factors of the bulk flow are…
(Abridged) We consider the interaction of a relativistically-moving shell, composed of thermal photons, a reversing magnetic field and a small admixture of charged particles, with a dense Wolf-Rayet wind. A thin outer layer of Wolf-Rayet…
We investigate the properties of X-ray emission from shock breakout of a supernova in a stellar wind. We consider a simple model describing aspherical explosions, in which the shock front with an ellipsoidal shape propagates into the dense…
For gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) born in a stellar wind, as the reverse shock crosses the ejecta, usually the shocked regions are still precipitated by the prompt MeV \gamma-ray emission. Because of the tight overlapping of the MeV photon flow…
We present a formalism of the dynamics of internal shocks in relativistic jets where the source has a time-dependent injection velocity and mass-loss rate. The variation of the injection velocity produces a two-shock wave structure, the…
Shock breakout emission is light that arises when a shockwave, generated by core-collapse explosion of a massive star, passes through its outer envelope. Hitherto, the earliest detection of such a signal was at several hours after the…
Emission from the photosphere in gamma-ray burst (GRB) jets can be substantially affected by subphotospheric energy dissipation, which is typically caused by radiation-mediated shocks (RMSs). We study the observational characteristics of…
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…
The structure of relativistic radiation mediated shocks (RRMS) propagating into a cold electron-proton plasma is calculated and analyzed. A qualitative discussion of the physics of relativistic and non relativistic shocks, including order…
We consider the interaction between radiation, matter and a magnetic field in a compact, relativistic jet. The entrained matter accelerates outward as the jet breaks out of a star or other confining medium. In some circumstances, such as…