Related papers: Lower Limits on Lorentz Factors in Gamma Ray Burst…
The typical spectra of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are discussed in the context of the compactness problem for GRB sources and how it is resolved in the popular fireball model. In particular, observational (model-independent) constraints on the…
Lorentz symmetry breaking at very high energies may lead to photon dispersion relations of the form omega^2=k^2+xi_n k^2(k/M_Pl)^n with new terms suppressed by a power n of the Planck mass M_Pl. We show that first and second order terms of…
We analyze the MeV/GeV emission from four bright Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) observed by the Fermi-Large Area Telescope to produce robust, stringent constraints on a dependence of the speed of light in vacuo on the photon energy (vacuum…
The propagation of $\gamma$ rays over very large distances provides new insights on the intergalactic medium and on fundamental physics. On their path to the Earth, $\gamma$ rays can annihilate with diffuse infrared or optical photons of…
The Lorentz factor of a relativistic jet and its evolution during the jet expansion are difficult to estimate, especially for the jets in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, it is related to the understanding of jet physics. Owing to the…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are a mixed class of sources consisting of, at least, the long duration and short-hard subclasses, the X-ray flashes, and the low-luminosity GRBs. In all cases, the release of enormous amounts of energy on a short…
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…
We show that the recent measurements of linear polarization in gamma rays from GRB 930131 and GRB 960924 constrain certain types of relativity violations in photons to less than parts in 10^{37}, representing an improvement in sensitivity…
We study possible Lorentz violations by means of gamma-ray bursts (GRB) with special focus on the Large Array Telescope (LAT) of GLAST. We simulate bursts with gtobssim and introduce a Lorentz violating term in the arrival times of the…
Photon is the fundamental quantum of electromagnetic fields, whose mass, $m_{\gamma}$, should be strictly zero in Maxwell's theory. But not all theories adopt this hypothesis. If the rest mass of the photon is not zero, there will be an…
We consider the effects of rapid pair creation by an intense pulse of gamma-rays propagating ahead of a relativistic shock. Side-scattered photons colliding with the main gamma-ray beam amplify the density of scattering charges. The…
The delay in the arrival times between high and low energy photons from cosmic sources can be used to test the violation of the Lorentz invariance (LIV), predicted by some quantum gravity theories, and to constrain its characteristic energy…
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are short and intense pulses of $\gamma$-rays arriving from random directions in the sky. Several years ago Amelino-Camelia et al. pointed out that a comparison of time of arrival of photons at different energies…
The emission mechanism of the gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is still a matter of debates. The standard synchrotron energy spectrum of cooling electrons F_E ~ E^{-1/2} is much too soft to account for the majority of the observed spectral slopes.…
The mechanism responsible for the prompt gamma-ray emission of a gamma-ray burst continues to remain an enigma. The detailed analysis of the spectrum of GRB 131014A observed by the $Fermi$ gamma ray burst monitor and Large Area Telescope…
Recent detections of GeV photons in a few GRBs by Fermi-LAT imply huge bulk Lorentz factors to avoid a large gamma gamma optical depth at high energy. Estimates can be as high as Gamma ~ 1000 in the most extreme cases. This puts severe…
We constrain the distance of the Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) prompt emission site from the explosion centre, R, by determining the location of the electron's self absorption frequency in the GRB prompt optical-to-X/gamma-ray spectral energy…
Very high-energy astrophysical gamma rays suffer a suppression of their flux along their propagation due to their interaction, through the $\gamma\gamma\to e^+e^-$ pair-production process, with the soft photon backgrounds present in the…
Knowledge about the Lorentz factor and its evolution of relativistic jets in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is crucial to understand their physics. An exact value of bulk Lorentz factor can be estimated based on a high-energy spectral cutoff,…
The initial Lorentz factor ($\Gamma_{0}$) and jet half-opening angle ($\theta_{\rm jet}$) of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are critical physical parameters for understanding the dynamical evolution of relativistic jets and the true energy release…