Related papers: Delayed Afterglow Onset Interpreted as Baryon-Poor…
Gamma-ray bursts and their afterglows are thought to be produced by an ultrarelativistic jet. One of the most important open questions is the outflow composition: the energy may be carried out from the central source either as kinetic…
The discovery of GRBs' afterglows has allowed us to establish several facts: their distance and energy scales, the fact that they are due to explosions, that the explosions are relativistic, and that the afterglow emission mechanism is…
We investigate consequences of a continuously energy-injecting central engine of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow emission, assuming that a highly magnetized pulsar is left beaming in the core of a GRB progenitor. Beaming and continuous…
The recent detection of delayed X-ray and optical emission, ``afterglow,'' associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) supports models, where the bursts are produced by relativistic expanding blastwaves, ``fireballs,'' at cosmological…
A two-component jet model is proposed to explain the unusual afterglow of GRB 070419A. Regarding the optical light curve, a wide "jet" with an opening angle of > 30-40 degrees is assumed to produce the late shallow decay, while the three…
If gamma-ray burst (GRB) emission is strongly collimated then GRBs occur throughout the Universe at a rate much higher than is detected. Since the emission from the optical afterglow is thought to be more isotropic than the gamma-ray…
A nascent magnetar, accompanying a gamma-ray burst (GRB) explosion, releases enormous rotational energy via magnetic dipole radiation. The energy loss rate of the magnetar is determined by the strength of the magnetic field at the pole. We…
The afterglow of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been extensively discussed in the context of shocks generated during an interaction of relativistic outflows with their ambient medium. This process leads to the formation of both a forward and a…
The taxonomy of optical emission detected during the critical first few minutes after the onset of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) defines two broad classes: prompt optical emission correlated with prompt gamma-ray emission, and early optical…
In a recent paper, Rol and colleagues present evidence for a variable polarization in the optical afterglow following the gamma-ray burst GRB 990712. The variation is highly significant, but the position angle appears time independent.…
I review gamma-ray burst optical/multiwavelength afterglow observations since 1997, when the first counterparts to GRBs were discovered. I discuss what we have learned from multiwavelength observations of GRB afterglows in relation to the…
The most interesting current open question in the theory of GRB afterglow is the propagation of jetted afterglows during the sideway expansion phase. Recent numerical simulations show hydrodynamic behavior that differs from the one…
If X-ray flashes are due to the forward jet emissions from gamma ray bursts (GRBs) observed with large viewing angles, we show that a prompt emission from a counter jet should be observed as a delayed flash in the UV or optical band several…
The observed behavior of a short gamma-ray burst (sGRB) afterglow lightcurve can reveal the angular structure of the relativistic jet and constrain the observer's viewing angle $\theta_\textrm{obs}$. Regardless of viewing angle, the…
Cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and their afterglows seem to result from dissipation of bulk energy in relativistic outflows, but their engine has not been unambiguously identified. The engine could be a young pulsar formed from…
Early rebrightenings at a post-burst time of 10^2 - 10^4 s have been observed in the afterglows of some gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Unlike X-ray flares, these rebrightenings usually last for a relatively long period. The continuous energy…
We make a quantitative prediction for the detection rate of orphan GRB afterglows as a function of flux sensitivity in X-ray, optical, and radio wavebands, based on a recent model of collimated GRB afterglows. We find that the orphan…
The absorption feature detected in the prompt X-ray emission of GRB990705 has important consequences for its circum-burst environment and therefore on its afterglows. Here we investigate whether the circum-burst environment constrained by…
GRB021211 was first detected by HETE II and its early afterglow has been observed. There is a break in its afterglow light curve at about 12 minutes after the bursts, before the break the optical flux decays with a power-law index of about…
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…