On the Source and Location of Temporal Variability in Fireballs

Nir J. Shaviv

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arXiv · astro-ph/9504077

On the Source and Location of Temporal Variability in Fireballs

Nir J. Shaviv

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Abstract

Most cosmological models for gamma-ray bursts invoke the production of a ``fireball'' in a compact region, as indicated by the short time variability of the observed GRBs. The high density of $e^+e^-$ pairs in such fireballs inevitably makes them opaque to gamma-rays and requires the gamma-ray emission to take place only after the fireball has expanded and became optically thin to gamma's. Many of the ``traditional'' scenarios explain the temporal variability of GRBs as being formed by growing instabilities in the expanding fireball. Here we explore this possiblity and examine its validity.

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Nir J. Shaviv. 1995-04-22. On the Source and Location of Temporal Variability in Fireballs. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9504077

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