Related papers: Early GRB Afterglows Revisited
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are emitted by relativistic ejecta from powerful cosmic explosions. Their light curves suggest that the gamma-ray emission occurs at early stages of the ejecta expansion, well before it decelerates in the ambient…
The peak time of optical afterglow may be used as a proxy to constrain the Lorentz factor Gamma of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) ejecta. We revisit this method by including bursts with optical observations that started when the afterglow flux…
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…
Early optical afterglows have been observed from GRB 990123, GRB 021004, and GRB 021211, which reveal rich emission features attributed to reverse shocks. It is expected that Swift will discover many more early afterglows. Here we…
We calculate the expected spectrum and light curves of the early afterglow. For short GRBs the peak of the afterglow will be delayed, typically, by a few dozens of seconds after the burst. The x-ray and gamma-ray characteristics of this…
Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are characterized by a brief gamma-ray flash followed by a longer-lasting multiwavelength afterglow. The basic mechanism is largely understood, and the early afterglow evolution often shows complex features that…
Recent observations suggest that long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and their afterglows are produced by highly relativistic jets emitted in core-collapse explosions. The pre-explosive ambient medium provides a natural test for the most…
We compare the ongoing observations of the remarkable burst GRB990123, the mother of all bursts, with the predictions of the afterglow theory. We show that the observations agree with the recent prediction that a reverse shock propagating…
In the fireball model, it is more physically realistic that gamma-ray burst (GRB) ejecta have a range of bulk Lorentz factors (assuming $M\propto \Gamma^{-s}$). The low Lorentz factor part of the ejecta will catch up with the high Lorentz…
The shock model has successfully explained the observed behaviors of afterglows from long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Here we use it to investigate the so-called early afterglows from short GRBs, which arises from blast waves that are not…
The jet compositions, central engines, and progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) remain open questions in GRB physics. Applying broadband observations, including GRB prompt emission and afterglow properties derived from {\em Fermi} and…
We report our discovery and early time optical, near-infrared, and radio wavelength follow-up observations of the afterglow of the gamma-ray burst GRB 021211. Our optical observations, beginning 21 min after the burst trigger, demonstrate…
We present in this paper an approach to estimate the initial Lorentz factor of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) without referring to the delayed emission of the early afterglow. Under the assumption that the afterglow of the bursts concerned occurs…
If gamma ray bursts are highly collimated, radiating into only a small fraction of the sky, the energy requirements of each event may be reduced by several (up to 4 - 6) orders of magnitude, and the event rate increased correspondingly. The…
Many previous studies have determined that the long lasting emission at X-ray, optical and radio wavelengths from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), called the afterglow, is likely produced by the external forward shock model. In this model, the GRB…
Most GRB X-ray afterglow light curves are characterised by a plateau, followed by a normal power-law decay interpreted as afterglow emission. Despite the numerous alternative interpretations, the origin of the plateau remains unclear. In…
The early optical afterglow of GRB 050820a recorded by the RAPTOR telescope shows both a contribution from the prompt emission and the initial rise of the afterglow. It is therefore well-suited for the study of the dynamical evolution of…
We describe our attempt to determine if gamma-ray burst (GRB) and afterglow emissions could both arise in external shocks for simple GRBs--bursts consisting of just a few peaks in their lightcurves. We calculate peak flux and peak frequency…
The TeV observations of GRB~221009A provided us with a unique opportunity to analyze the contemporaneous phase in which both prompt and afterglow emissions are seen simultaneously. To describe this initial phase of Gamma-Ray Burst…
The early X-ray afterglow of gamma-ray bursts revealed by Swift carried many surprises. We focus in this paper on the plateau phase whose origin remains highly debated. We confront several newly discovered correlations between prompt and…