Related papers: Limits on Expanding Relativistic Shells from Gamma…
We discuss differences in shapes, expansion velocities and fragmentation times of structures created by an energy deposition from a single Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) or an OB association to the ISM. After the initial inflation, supershells…
We compute burst spectra and time structures arising from synchrotron and inverse Compton scattering by non-thermal electrons accelerated in shocks which form during the interaction between a thin ultra-relativistic fireball and a…
Internal shocks are a leading candidate for the dissipation mechanism that powers the prompt $\gamma$-ray emission in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In this scenario a compact central source produces an ultra-relativistic outflow with varying…
Among the models used to explain the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), internal shocks is a leading one. Its most basic ingredient is a collision between two cold shells of different Lorentz factors in an ultra-relativistic…
We consider the acceleration of charged particles at the ultra-relativistic shocks, with Lorentz factors \Gamma_s >> 1 relative to the upstream medium, arising in relativistic fireball models of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We show that for…
Gamma-ray bursts and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays provide an important testing ground for fundamental physics. A simple-minded analysis of some gamma-ray bursts would lead to a huge estimate of the overall energy emitted, and this…
Most models for blazars and gamma-ray bursts involve relativistic plasma outflows powered by accretion processes onto black holes. The blast wave physics developed for cosmological models of GRBs is reviewed. Two points relevant for blazar…
The emission features observed in the X-ray afterglow of Gamma Ray Bursts are extremely powerful. Since they last at least for several hours, they imply energies of the order of 1e49 ergs. This in turn implies that the energy contained in…
An analysis of the interaction between a spherical relativistic blast-wave shell and a stationary cloud with a spherical cap geometry is performed assuming that the cloud width << x, where x is the distance of the cloud from the GRB…
In the collapsar scenario, gamma ray bursts are caused by relativistic jets expelled along the rotation axis of a collapsing stellar core. We discuss how the structure and time-dependence of such jets depends on the stellar envelope and…
Growing observational evidence supports the proposition that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powered by relativistic jets from massive helium stars whose cores have collapsed to black holes and an accretion disk (collapsars). We model the…
We calculate the spectra expected from unsteady relativistic wind models of gamma-ray bursts, suitable for events of arbitrary duration. The spectral energy distribution of the burst is calculated over photon energies spanning from eV to…
We constrain the possibility of a non-trivial refractive index in free space corresponding to an energy-dependent velocity of light: c(E) \simeq c_0 (1 - E/M), where M is a mass scale that might represent effect of quantum-gravitational…
We discuss the evolution of cosmological gamma-ray burst remnants, consisting of the cooling and expanding fireball ejecta together with any swept-up external matter, after the gamma-ray event. We show that significant optical emission is…
Observations of X-ray flares from Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) imply strong constraints on possible physical models. We provide a general discussion of these. In particular, we show that in order to account for the relatively flat and weak…
We study the evolution of the ultra-relativistic shock wave in a plane-parallel atmosphere adjacent to a vacuum and the subsequent breakout phenomenon. When the density distribution has a power law with the distance from the surface, there…
We present a simple, semi-analytical model to explain GRB temporal and spectral properties in the context of the internal shock model. Each individual pulse in the temporal profiles is produced by the deceleration of fast moving material by…
There is growing evidence that long and hard gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), discovered at redshifts between 0.4 and 3.4, are related to some type of supernova (SN) explosions. The GRB ejecta are ultra-relativistic, and possibly beamed. There is a…
We present an updated catalog of 113 X-ray flares detected by Swift in the ~33% of the X-ray afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB). 43 flares have a measured redshift. For the first time the analysis is performed in 4 different X-ray energy…
We simulate Gamma-Ray Bursts arising from internal shocks in relativistic winds, calculate their power density spectrum (PDS), and identify the factors to which the PDS is most sensitive: the wind ejection features, which determine the wind…