Gamma-ray bursts from internal shocks in a relativistic wind: temporal and spectral properties

We construct models for gamma-ray bursts in which the emission comes from internal shocks in a relativistic wind with a highly non-uniform distribution of the Lorentz factor. We follow the evolution of the wind using a very simplified approach in which a large number of layers interact by direct collisions but all pressure waves have been suppressed. We suppose that the magnetic field and the electron Lorentz factor reach large equipartition values in the shocks. Synchrotron photons emitted by the relativistic electrons have a typical energy in the gamma-ray range in the observer frame. Synthetic bursts are constructed as the sum of the contributions from all the internal elementary shocks, and their temporal and spectral properties are compared with the observations. We reproduce the diversity of burst profiles, the 'FRED' shape of individual pulses and the short time-scale variability. Synthetic bursts also satisfy the duration–hardness relation and individual pulses are found to be narrower at high energy, in agreement with the observations. These results suggest that internal shocks in a relativistic wind may indeed be at the origin of gamma-ray bursts. A potential problem, however, is the relatively low efficiency of the dissipation process. If the relativistic wind is powered by accretion from a disc to a stellar mass black hole, it implies that a substantial fraction of the available energy is injected into the wind.     

Internal shocks in the jets of radio-loud quasars

The central engine causing the production of jets in radio sources may work intermittently, accelerating shells of plasma with different mass, energy and velocity. Faster but later shells can then catch up slower earlier ones. In the resulting collisions shocks develop, converting some of the ordered bulk kinetic energy into magnetic field and random energy of the electrons which then radiate. We propose that this internal shock scenario , which is the scenario generally thought to explain the observed gamma-ray burst radiation, can also work for radio sources in general, and for blazars in particular. We investigate in detail this idea, simulating the birth, propagation and collision of shells, calculating the spectrum produced in each collision, and summing the locally produced spectra from those regions of the jet which are simultaneously active in the observer's frame. We can thus construct snapshots of the overall spectral energy distribution, time-dependent spectra and light curves. This allows us to characterize the predicted variability at any frequency, study correlations between the emission at different frequencies, specify the contribution of each region of the jet to the total emission, and find correlations between flares at high energies and the birth of superluminal radio knots and/or radio flares. The model has been applied to reproduce qualitatively the observed properties of 3C 279. Global agreement in terms of both spectra and temporal evolution is found. In a forthcoming work, we will explore the constraints that this scenario sets on the initial conditions of the plasma injected in the jet and the shock dissipation for different classes of blazars.     

A systematic description of shocks in gamma-ray bursts – II. Simulation

In Paper I, we presented a detailed formulation of the relativistic shocks and synchrotron emission in the context of gamma-ray burst (GRB) physics. To see how well this model reproduces the observed characteristics of the GRBs and their afterglows, here we present the results of some simulations based on this model. They are meant to reproduce the prompt and afterglow emissions in some intervals of time during a burst. We show that this goal is achieved for both short and long GRBs and their afterglows, at least for part of the parameter space. Moreover, these results are evidence of the physical relevance of the two phenomenological models we have suggested in Paper I for the evolution of the active region – synchrotron emitting region in a shock. The dynamical active region model seems to reproduce the observed characteristics of prompt emissions and late afterglow better than the quasi-steady model which is more suitable for the onset of afterglows. Therefore, these simulations confirm the arguments presented in Paper I about the behaviour of these models based on their physical properties.     

Formation of hard very high energy gamma-ray spectra of blazars due to internal photon–photon absorption

The energy spectra of TeV gamma-rays from blazars, after being corrected for intergalatic absorption in the extragalactic background light (EBL), appear unusually hard, a fact that poses challenges to the conventional models of particle acceleration in TeV blazars and/or to the EBL models. In this paper, we show that the internal absorption of gamma-rays caused by interactions with dense narrow-band radiation fields in the vicinity of compact gamma-ray production regions can lead to the formation of gamma-ray spectra of an almost arbitrary hardness. This allows significant relaxation of the current tight constraints on particle acceleration and radiation models, although at the expense of enhanced requirements to the available non-thermal energy budget. The latter, however, is not a critical issue, as long as it can be largely compensated by the Doppler boosting, assuming large (>10) Doppler factors of the relativistically moving gamma-ray production regions. The suggested scenario of formation of hard gamma-ray spectra predicts detectable synchrotron radiation of secondary electron–positron pairs which might require a revision of the current 'standard paradigm' of spectral energy distributions of gamma-ray blazars. If the primary gamma-rays are of hadronic origin related to pp or   p γ  interactions, the 'internal gamma-ray absorption' model predicts neutrino fluxes close to the detection threshold of the next generation high-energy neutrino detectors.     

A possible explanation for the radio afterglow of GRB 980519: the dense medium effect

GRB 980519 is characterized by its rapidly declining optical and X-ray afterglows. Explanations of this behaviour include models invoking a dense medium environment, which makes the shock wave evolve quickly into the subrelativistic phase, a jet-like outflow, and a wind-shaped circumburst medium environment. Recently, Frail et al. found that the latter two cases are consistent with the radio afterglow of this burst. Here, by considering the transrelativistic shock hydrodynamics, we show that the dense medium model can also account for the radio light curve quite well. The potential virtue of the dense medium model for GRB 980519 is that it implies a smaller angular size of the afterglow, which is essential for interpreting the strong modulation of the radio light curve. Optical extinction arising from the dense medium is not important if the prompt optical–UV flash accompanying the γ -ray emission can destroy dust by sublimation out to an appreciable distance. Comparisons with some other radio afterglows are also discussed.     

Hydrodynamic Evolution of GRB Afterglow

1 INTRODUCTIONMom the detection at X-rap optical and radio wavelengths of ganuna-ray bursts (GRBs)since 1997 (Costa et al. 1997; van Paradijs et al. 1997; Sahu et al. 1997; Djorgovsld et al. 1997;Metzger et al. 1997; Frail et al. 1997; Taylor et al. 1997; Kulforni et al. 1998; Halpern et al.1998; Castro-Tirado et al. 1999; Kulkalni et al. 1999; Galama et al. 1999), we have come toknow that the GRBs can release 1051 ~ 1054 ergs in a few seconds and that the fireball modelcan describ…     

GRB 080319B: evidence for relativistic turbulence, not internal shocks

We show that the excellent optical and gamma-ray data available for GRB 080319B rule out the internal shock model for the prompt emission. The data instead point to a model in which the observed radiation was produced close to the deceleration radius  (∼10¹⁷ cm)  by a turbulent source with random Lorentz factors of ∼10 in the comoving frame. The optical radiation was produced by synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons, and the gamma-rays by inverse-Compton scattering of the synchrotron photons. The gamma-ray emission originated both in eddies and in an inter-eddy medium, whereas the optical radiation was mostly from the latter. Therefore, the gamma-ray emission was highly variable whereas the optical was much less variable. The model explains all the observed features in the prompt optical and gamma-ray data of GRB 080319B. We are unable to determine with confidence whether the energy of the explosion was carried outwards primarily by particles (kinetic energy) or magnetic fields. Consequently, we cannot tell whether the turbulent medium was located in the reverse shock (we can rule out the forward shock) or in a Poynting-dominated jet.     

Limit shocks of relativistic magnetohydrodynamics

In this paper we show that switch-on and switch-off shocks are allowed by the shock equations of relativistic MHD and have similar properties to their Newtonian counterparts. Just like in Newtonian MHD they are limits of fast and slow shock solutions and as such they may be classified as weakly evolutionary shocks.     

Optical multiband observations of BL Lacertae during the outburst of 2005

The aim of our observations is to investigate the intranight variability properties and the spectral variability of BL Lacertae. 799 optical multiband observations were intensively made with the Beijing–Arizona–Taiwan–Connecticut (BATC) 60/90 cm Schmidt telescope during the outburst composed of two subsequent flares in 2005. The second flare, whose rising phase lasted at least 44 d, was observed with amplitudes of more than 1.1 mag in three BATC optical bands. In general, on intranight time-scale the amplitude of variability and the variation rate are larger at the shorter wavelength, and the variation rate is comparable in the rising and decaying phases within each band. A possible time-lag between the light curves in bands e and m , around 11.6 min, was obtained. Based on the analysis of the colour index variation with the source brightness, the variability of BL Lacertae can be interpreted as having two components: a 'strongly chromatic' intranight component and a 'mildly chromatic' internight component, which may be the results of both intrinsic physical mechanism and geometric effects.     

Afterglow Light Curves of Jetted Gamma-ray Burst Ejecta in Stellar Winds

Optical and radio afterglows arising from shocks by relativistic conical ejecta running into pre-burst massive stellar winds are revisited. Under the homogeneous thin-shell approximation and a realistic treatment for the lateral expansion of jets, our results show that a notable break exists in the optical light curve in most cases we calculated in which the physical parameters are varied within reasonable ranges. For a relatively tenuous wind which cannot decelerate the relativistic jet to cause a light curve break within days, the wind termination shock due to the ram pressure of the surrounding medium occurs at a small radius, namely, a few times 1017 cm. In such a structured wind environment, the jet will pass through the wind within several hours and run into the outer uniform dense medium. The resulting optical light curve flattens with a shallower drop after the jet encounters the uniform medium, and then declines deeply, triggered by runaway lateral expansion.     

Numerical simulations of relativistic magnetized jets

The propagation of light highly relativistic jets carrying a toroidal magnetic field is studied numerically. The results show that jets with high Poynting flux develop the conspicuous nose cones discovered earlier in simulations of classical magnetized jets. The size of the nose cone is significantly reduced in kinetic energy-dominated jets, which develop extensive cocoons. The magnetic field nevertheless plays a significant role in the jet–cocoon dynamics by allowing self-confined flows. The results are explained in terms of the properties of perpendicular magnetohydrodynamic shocks.