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Evolution of an afterglow with a hard electron spectrum

D Bhattacharya·L Resmi
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Abstract

Diffusive shock acceleration theory suggests that the ``universal'' energy spectrum of electrons with a power-law index p approximately equal to 2.3, commonly used to model GRB afterglows, cannot extend below an electron lorentz factor gamma_e equal to the bulk lorentz factor of the blast wave multiplied by the ratio of proton and electron masses. We suggest that the electron energy distribution has a slope p < 2 below this limit, down to an appropriate gamma_m. A two-slope spectrum such as this provides a good model for the afterglow of GRB010222.

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D Bhattacharya, L Resmi. 2003-01-19. Evolution of an afterglow with a hard electron spectrum. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0301379

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