Related papers: Diffusive photospheres in gamma-ray bursts
Steep X-ray spectral slopes, X-ray excesses and preferred spectral energy breaks in the 01-0.3 MeV range are discussed as the possible consequences of the photospheric component of the GRB relativistic outflow, and of pair breakdown in…
Gamma-ray bursts may occur within pulsar wind bubbles (PWBs) under a number of scenarios, such as the supranova-like models in which the progenitor pulsar drives a powerful wind shocking against the ambient medium before it comes to death…
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 are estimated to be as…
We have studied the relativistic beamed outflow proposed to occur in the collapsar model of gamma-ray bursts. A jet forms as a consequence of an assumed energy deposition of $\sim 10^{50}- 10^{51}$ erg/s within a $30^{\circ}$ cone around…
The successful discovery of X-ray, optical and radio afterglows of GRB has made possible the identification of host galaxies at cosmological distances. The energy release inferred in these outbursts place them among the most energetic and…
Photoexcitation and ionization of partially ionized heavy atoms in highly relativistic flows by interstellar photons, followed by their reemission in radiative recombination and decay, boost star-light into beamed $\gamma$ rays along the…
Gamma-ray burst (GRB) emission is believed to originate in highly relativistic fireballs. Currently, only lower limits were securely set to the initial fireball Lorentz factor Gamma_0. We aim to provide a direct measure of Gamma_0. The…
The dissipation of turbulent magnetic fields is an appealing scenario to explain the origin of non-thermal particles in high-energy astrophysical sources. However, it has been suggested that the particle distribution may effectively…
The afterglow emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is believed to originate from a relativistic blast wave driven into the circumburst medium. Although the afterglow emission from radio up to X-ray frequencies is thought to originate from…
High-energy photons emitted from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are subject to pair-production interactions with lower energy photons, leading to an effective optical depth. In this Letter, we estimate the opacity resulting from photon fields…
We develop a numerical formalism for calculating the distribution with energy of the (internal) pairs formed in a relativistic source from unscattered MeV--TeV photons. For GRB afterglows, this formalism is more suitable if the relativistic…
As is well-known, the requirement that gamma ray bursts (GRB's) be optically thin to high energy photons yields a lower limit on the Lorentz factor (\gamma) of the expansion. In this paper, we provide a simple derivation of the lower limit…
The Lorentz factor (LF) of gamma-ray burst (GRB) ejecta may be constrained by observations of high-energy (HE) spectral attenuation. The recent Fermi-LAT observations of prompt GeV emission from several bright GRBs have leaded to…
The recent reports of temporal and spectral peculiarities in the early stages of some afterglows suggest that we may be wrong in postulating a central engine which becomes dormant after the burst itself. A continually decreasing postburst…
We consider the polarization properties of photospheric emission originating in jets consisting of a highly relativistic core of opening angle theta_j and Lorentz factor Gamma_0, and a surrounding shear layer where the Lorentz factor is…
The MeV spectral peak of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is best explained as photospheric emission from a dissipative relativistic jet. The observed non-blackbody spectrum shows that sub-photospheric dissipation involves both thermal plasma…
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…
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…
The instantaneous emission from a relativistic surface endowed with a Lorentz factor $\Gamma$ that decreases away from the outflow symmetry axis can naturally explain the three phases observed by Swift/XRT in GRBs and their afterglows (GRB…
Numerous reports have been made of features, either in emission or absorption, in the 10 - 1000 keV spectra of some gamma-ray bursts. Originally interpreted in the context of Galactic neutron star models as cyclotron line emission and $e^+…