Related papers: GRBs and the Ghost of the Fireball

Recent observations suggest that gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and their afterglows are produced by highly relativistic jets emitted in supernova explosions. We have proposed that the result of the event is not just a compact object plus the…

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…

Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are sudden, intense flashes of gamma-rays which, for a few blinding seconds, light up in an otherwise fairly dark gamma-ray sky. They are detected at the rate of about once a day, and while they are on, they outshine…

Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are short and intense bursts of $\sim$100 keV$-$1MeV photons, usually followed by long-lasting decaying afterglow emission in a wide range of electromagnetic wavelengths from radio to X-ray and, sometimes, even to GeV…

There are about 2000 gamma ray burst (GRB) events known to us with data pouring in at the rate of one per day. While the afterglows of GRBs in radio, optical and X-ray bands are successfully explained by the fireball model, a significant…

Many gamma ray bursts (GRBs) have been observed with the Burst-Alert and X-Ray telescopes of the Swift satellite. The successive `pulses' of these GRBs end with a fast decline and a fast spectral softening, until they are overtaken by…

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are short and intense emission of soft gamma-rays, which have fascinated astronomers and astrophysicists since their unexpected discovery in 1960s. The X-ray/optical/radio afterglow observations confirm the…

There are several lines of evidence indicating that the ultra-relativistic outflows powering gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are collimated into narrow jets. However, these are indirect, and the jet structure is rather poorly constrained. What is…

The fireshell model for Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) naturally leads to a canonical GRB composed of a proper-GRB (P-GRB) and an afterglow. P-GRBs, introduced by us in 2001, are sometimes considered "precursors" of the main GRB event in the…

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most electromagnetically luminous cosmic explosions. They are powered by collimated streams of plasma (jets) ejected by a newborn stellar-mass black hole or neutron star at relativistic velocities (near the…

Leading models for the "central engine" of long, soft gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are briefly reviewed with emphasis on the collapsar model. Growing evidence supports the hypothesis that GRBs are a supernova-like phenomenon occurring in star…

We call "prompt" emission of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) the erratic and violent phase of hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray emission, usually lasting for tens of seconds in long GRBs. However, the central engine of GRBs may live much longer.…

The cosmological gamma-ray burst (GRB) phenomenon is reviewed. The broad observational facts and empirical phenomenological relations of the GRB prompt emission and afterglow are outlined. A well-tested, successful fireball shock model is…

We examine what we regard as key observational results on GRB 970228 and GRB 970508 and show that the accumulated evidence strongly suggests that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are cosmological fireballs. We further show that the observations…

Soft Gamma Repeaters are widely believed to occur as isotropic Magnetar explosion. We suggest on the contrary that they may be described by thin collimated spinning and precessing Gamma Jets flashing and blazing along the line of sight. The…

Understanding of the nature of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is one of the challenging problem facing the astrophysics community. The field of gamma ray bursts is a rapidly developing one and we expect that new missions, like SWIFT and GLAST will…

The discovery of X-ray, optical and radio afterglows of GRBs provides an important tool for understanding these sources. Most current models envisage GRB as arising in a cataclysmic stellar event leading to a relativistically expanding…

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…

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are believed to originate from ultra-relativistic winds/fireballs to avoid the "compactness problem". However, the most energetic photons in GRBs may still suffer from $\gamma-\gamma$ absorption leading to…

About 15% of Gamma Ray Bursts have precursors, i.e. emission episodes preceding the main event, whose spectral and temporal properties are similar to the main emission. We propose that precursors have their own fireball, producing afterglow…