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Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are intense pulses of high-energy emission associated with massive stars' death or compact objects' coalescence. Their multi-wavelength observations help verify the reliability of the standard fireball model. We…
We discuss some open problems concerning the origin and the emission mechanism of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in light of recent developments. If GRBs originate at extragalactic distances, we are facing four crises: (1) an energy crisis, models…
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 origin of gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission, bursts of gamma-rays lasting from shorter than one second to thousands of seconds, remains not fully understood after more than 40 years of observations. The uncertainties lie in several…
Whatever the ultimate energy source of gamma-ray bursts turns out to be, the resulting sequence of physical events is likely to lead to a fairly generic, almost unavoidable scenario: a relativistic fireball that dissipates its energy after…
The prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (hereafter GRBs) probably comes from a highly relativistic wind which converts its kinetic energy into radiation via the formation of shocks within the wind itself. Such "internal shocks" can occur if…
The emission mechanism of the gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is still a matter of debates. The standard synchrotron energy spectrum of cooling electrons F_E ~ E^{-1/2} is much too soft to account for the majority of the observed spectral slopes.…
The energy dissipation mechanism within Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) outflows, driving their extremely luminous prompt $\gamma$-ray emission is still uncertain. The leading candidates are internal shocks and magnetic reconnection. While the…
We report evidence from the 3B Catalogue that long ($T_{90} > 10$ s) and short ($T_{90} < 10$ s) gamma-ray bursts represent distinct source populations. Their spatial distributions are significantly different, with long bursts having…
We discuss the possibility that gamma-ray bursts may result from cosmological relativistic blob emitting neutron star jets that precess past the line of sight. Beaming reduces the energy requirements, so that the jet emission can last…
We propose that the internal energy of the GRB blast waves, thought to be stored in the form of relativistic protons co-moving with the blast wave, is converted explosively (i.e. on light crossing time scales) into relativistic electrons of…
Gamma-ray bursts are believed to originate from internal shocks which arise in an irregular relativistic wind. The process has been thought to be inefficient, converting only a few percent of the kinetic energy into gamma-rays. We define…
Apparently, Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are all but standard candles. Their emission is collimated into a cone and the received flux depends on the cone aperture angle. Fortunately we can derive the aperture angle through an achromatic…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been phenomenologically classified into long and short populations based on the observed bimodal distribution of duration. Multi-wavelength and multi-messenger observations in recent years have revealed that in…
We present an analysis of the Internal Shock Model of GRBs, where gamma-rays are produced by internal shocks within a relativistic wind. We show that observed GRB characteristics impose stringent constraints on wind and source parameters.…
If the emission of gamma-ray bursts were due to the synchrotron process in the standard internal shock scenario, then the typical observed spectrum should have a slope F(nu) \propto nu^{-1/2}, which strongly conflicts with the much harder…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are extremely energetic events and produce highly diverse light curves. Light curves are believed to be resulting from internal shocks reflecting the activities of the GRB central engine. Hence their temporal studies…
The physical composition of the ejecta of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) remains an open question. The radiation mechanism of the prompt gamma rays is also in debate. This problem can be solved for the bursts hosting distinct thermal radiation.…
Although it has been established observationally beyond doubt that broad-line stripped envelope supernovae (SNe) of type Ic produce long duration gamma ray bursts (GRBs), that neutron star mergers produce short hard GRBs (SHBs), and that…
Gamma-ray burst (GRB) engines are probed most intimately during the prompt gamma-ray luminous phase when the expanding blast wave is closest to the explosion center. Using GRBs 990123 and 940217 as guides, we briefly review observations of…