Related papers: Quasi-thermal Comptonization and gamma-ray bursts
Quasi-thermal Comptonization is an attractive alternative to the synchrotron process to explain the spectra of GRBs, even if we maintain other important properties of the internal shock scenario, implying a compact emitting region and an…
We discuss here constraints on the particle acceleration models from the observed gamma-ray bursts spectra. The standard synchrotron shock model assumes that some fraction of available energy is given instantaneously to the electrons which…
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.…
Recent results of the hectic research activity about gamma-ray bursts will be reviewed, with emphasis about the emission processes at the origin of the observed gamma-rays. The conventional synchrotron shock scenario is found to have…
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…
A leading mechanism for producing cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is via ultra-relativistic particles in an expanding fireball. The kinetic energy of the particles is converted into thermal energy in a forward shock and a reverse…
The high energy continuum in Seyfert galaxies and galactic black hole candidates is likely to be produced by a thermal plasma. There are difficulties in understanding what can keep the plasma thermal, especially during fast variations of…
In the standard internal shock model, the observed X and gamma-ray radiation is assumed to be produced by synchrotron emission. I will show that there are serious problems with this interpretation, calling for other radiation mechanisms,…
Many relativistic plasma environments in high-energy astrophysics, including pulsar wind nebulae, hot accretion flows onto black holes, relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts, and giant radio lobes, are naturally…
We calculate the synchrotron self-Compton emission from internal shocks occurring in relativistic winds as a source of gamma-ray bursts, with allowance for self-absorption. For plausible model parameters most pulses within a Gamma-Ray Burst…
We consider the synchrotron emission from relativistic shocks assuming that the radiating electrons cool rapidly (either through synchrotron or any other radiation mechanism). It is shown that the theory of synchrotron emission in the fast…
We investigate the synchrotron self-Compton process in a planar shell taking the shock structure into account. We find that the energy density of the seed photons could deviate from the one-zone estimate by order of unity depending on the…
Synchrotron radiation and Compton scattering are widely accepted as the most likely emission mechanisms of some astrophysical phenomena, such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The measurement on polarization of…
There is strong observational evidence that a quasi-thermal population of electrons (or pairs) exists in compact X-ray sources. It is, however, unclear what mechanism thermalizes the particles. Here, two processes, Coulomb scattering and…
A solution is presented for the spectrum of high-energy gamma-ray burst photons confined to a quasi-thermal baryonic photosphere. The solution is valid in the steady-state limit assuming the region under consideration is optically thick to…
There are difficulties in understanding what keeps the plasma thermalized in compact sources, especially during rapid variations of the emitted flux. Particle-particle collisions are too inefficient in hot rarefied plasmas, and a faster…
Synchrotron radiation of relativistic electrons is an important radiation mechanism in many astrophysical sources. In the sources where the synchrotron cooling time scale $t_c$ is shorter than the dynamical time scale $t_{dyn}$, electrons…
Synchrotron radiation mechanism, when electrons are accelerated in a relativistic shock, is known to have serious problems to explain the observed gamma-ray spectrum below the peak for most Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs); the synchrotron spectrum…
A BeppoSAX survey of bright Neutron Star (NS) systems in globular clusters, together with the results obtained on Galactic LMXRB, suggests that a two-component model is a reasonable description of the 0.1-200 keV spectra. At energies lower…
In a hybrid thermal-nonthermal plasma, we find that the dominant emission and absorption mechanisms are synchrotron by nonthermal electrons and bremsstrahlung by thermal electrons. These two processes significantly change the spectrum from…