Related papers: Gamma Ray Bursts: open problems
Cosmic gamma-ray bursts are one of the great frontiers of astrophysics today. They are a playground of relativists and observers alike. They may teach us about the death of stars and the birth of black holes, the physics in extreme…
Our understanding of the engines and progenitors of gamma-ray bursts has expanded through the ages as a broader set of diagnostics has allowed us to test our understanding of these objects. Here we review the history of the growth in our…
The gamma-ray burst (GRB) 060218/SN 2006aj is a peculiar event, with the second lowest redshift, low luminosity, long duration, chromatic lightcurve features, and in particular, the presence of a thermal component in the X-ray and…
Extensive observational campaigns of afterglow hunting have greatly enriched our understanding of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) phenomenon. Efforts have been made recently to explore some afterglow properties or signatures that will be tested…
Despite that gamma-ray bursts is a phenomenon quite different from accreting compact objects, it could be that their hard X-ray emission is associated with a very similar mechanism of energy dissipation. In both cases, we could deal with…
Being the most extreme explosions in the universe, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) provide a unique laboratory to study various plasma physics phenomena. The complex lightcurve and broad-band, non-thermal spectra indicate a very complicated system…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are known to have the most relativistic jets, with initial Lorentz factors in the order of a few hundreds. Many GRBs display an early X-ray light-curve plateau, which was not theoretically expected and therefore…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are promising as sources of neutrinos and cosmic rays. In the internal shock scenario, blobs of plasma emitted from a central engine collide within a relativistic jet and form shocks, leading to particle acceleration…
Although the physical origin of gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission is still controversial, synchrotron radiation from accelerated electrons is a promising mechanism. It is believed that electrons are accelerated continuously by…
Detailed information on the physical parameters in the sources of cosmological Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) is obtained from few plausible assumptions consistent with observations. Model-independent requirements posed by these assumptions on the…
A list is presented of known extragalactic radio jets which also have associated X-ray emission. The canonical emission processes for the production of X-rays are reviewed and the sources are categorized on the basis of our current…
We have developed a toy model for internal shocks which has been used to generate a large number of synthetic GRBs in order to find in the parameter space the conditions which can lead to the formation of X-ray flashes. The key condition…
Within the framework of the internal shock model, we study the luminosity and the variability in gamma-ray bursts from collimated fireballs. In particular we pay attention to the role of the photosphere due to $e^\pm$ pairs produced by…
The prompt gamma-ray emission in gamma-ray bursts is believed to be produced by internal shocks within a relativistic unsteady outflow. The recent detection of prompt optical emission accompanying the prompt gamma-ray emission appears to be…
Thermal X-ray emission which is simultaneous with the prompt gamma-rays has been detected for the first time from a supernova connected with a gamma-ray burst (GRB), namely GRB060218/SN2006aj. It has been interpreted as arising from the…
Linear polarization have been observed in both the prompt phase and afterglow of some bright gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Polarization in the prompt phase spans a wide range, and may be as high as $\gtrsim 50\%$. In the afterglow phase,…
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) have remained a puzzle for many high-energy astrophysicists since their discovery in 1967. With the advent of the X-ray satellites BeppoSAX and RossiXTE, it has been possible to carry out deep multi-wavelength…
Using GRB 991216 as a prototype, it is shown that the intensity substructures observed in what is generally called the "prompt emission" in gamma ray bursts (GRBs) do originate in the collision between the accelerated baryonic matter (ABM)…
The prompt GRB emission is thought to arise from electrons accelerated in internal shocks propagating within a highly relativistic outflow. The launch of Fermi offers the prospect of observations with unprecedented sensitivity in…
The recent progress in studies of gamma-ray bursts, their afterglows, and host galaxies is discussed. The emphasis is given to high-energy phenomena associated with gamma-ray burst explosions: high-energy cosmic rays, neutrinos,…