arXiv subjects

P. Meszaros

Publications and source records attributed to P. Meszaros.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv1998

Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos from Gamma Ray Bursts

We review the hypothesis that the acceleration of protons at internal shocks in Gamma Ray Bursts (GRB) could be the origin of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) observed at earth, E_max > 10^19 eV. We find that, even though protons may be accelerated to such energies, their ejection into the interstellar/intergalactic medium is problematic because it is likely to be accompanied by considerable adiabatic losses in the expanding shell. The problem is circumvented by neutrons produced in photohadronic interactions, which are not magnetically bound and thus effectively ejected in the moment of their production. They can be both produced in sufficient number and be able to leave the emission region if the optical depth of the emission region to photohadronic interactions is of order 1. We show that this requirement can be fulfilled under the same conditions which allow acceleration of protons to the highest energies. The production of neutrinos in this process correlates the fluxes of cosmic rays and neutrinos, and makes the hypothesis of UHECR origin in GRBs testable.

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arXiv1998

Photohadronic Neutrinos from Transients in Astrophysical Sources

We investigate the spectrum of photohadronically produced neutrinos at very high energies (VHE, >10^14 eV) in astrophysical sources whose physical properties are constrained by their variability, in particular jets in Active Galactic Nuclei (blazars) and Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). We discuss in detail the various competing cooling processes for energetic protons, as well as the cooling of pions and muons in the hadronic cascade, which impose limits on both the efficiency of neutrino production and the maximum neutrino energy. If the proton acceleration process is of the Fermi type, we can derive a model independent upper limit on the neutrino energy from the observed properties of any cosmic transient, which depends only on the assumed total energy of the transient. For standard energetic constraints, we can rule out major contributions above 10^19 eV from current models of both blazars and GRBs; and in most models much stronger limits apply in order to produce measurable neutrino fluxes. For GRBs, we show that the cooling of pions and muons in the hadronic cascade imposes the strongest limit on the neutrino energy, leading to cutoff energies of the electron and muon neutrino spectrum at the source differing by about one order of magnitude. We also discuss the relation of maximum cosmic ray energies to maximum neutrino energies and fluxes in GRBs, and find that the production of both the highest energy cosmic rays and observable neutrino fluxes at the same site can only be realized under extreme conditions; a test implication of this joint scenario would be the existence of strong fluxes of GRB correlated muon neutrinos up to ultra high energies, >10^17 eV. Secondary particle cooling also leads to slightly revised estimates for the neutrino fluxes from (non-transient) AGN cores.

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arXiv1998

Hydrodynamical Simulations of Gamma Ray-Bursts from Internal Shocks in Relativistic Fireballs

We simulate the dynamics of the interaction between relativistically expanding spherically symmetric shells using a 1-dimensional hydrodynamic code and calculate spectra and light-curves arising from such collisions by integrating the synchrotron and inverse Compton emission of the shocked gas. The numerical results reflect the most important features observed in Gamma-Ray Bursts: the spectrum exhibits a progressive softening (its break energy decaying exponentially with the 50--300 keV photon fluence), and the pulses that form the burst appear narrower in higher energy bands. Analytical results for the most important physical parameters of the burst are obtained by solving the shock jump conditions for a pair of interacting shells, in the case when both the forward and reverse shocks are relativistic.

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arXiv1998

Energetics and beaming of gamma-ray burst triggers

A wide range of mechanisms have been proposed to supply the energy for gamma-ray bursts (GRB) at cosmological distances. It is a common misconception that some of these, notably NS-NS mergers, cannot meet the energy requirements suggested by recent observations. We show here that GRB energies, even at the most distant redshifts detected, are compatible with current binary merger or collapse scenarios involving compact objects. This is especially so if, as expected, there is a moderate amount of beaming, since current observations constrain the energy per solid angle much more strongly and directly than the total energy. All plausible progenitors, ranging from NS-NS mergers to various hypernova-like scenarios, eventually lead to the formation of a black hole with a debris torus around it, so that the extractable energy is of the same order, 1E+54 ergs, in all cases. MHD conversion of gravitational into kinetic and radiation energy can significantly increase the probability of observing large photon fluxes, although significant collimation may achieve the same effect with neutrino annihilation in short bursts. The lifetime of the debris torus is dictated by a variety of physical processes, such as viscous accretion and various instabilities; these mechanisms dominate at different stages in the evolution of the torus and provide for a range of gamma-ray burst lifetimes.

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arXiv1998

The Edge of a Gamma Ray Burst Afterglow

We discuss the formation of spectral features in the decelerating ejecta of gamma-ray bursts, including the possible effect of inhomogeneities. These should lead to blueshifted and broadened absorption edges and resonant features, especially from H and He. An external neutral ISM could produce detectable H and He, as well as Fe X-ray absorption edges and lines. Hypernova scenarios may be diagnosed by Fe K-$α$ and H Ly-$α$ emission lines.

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arXiv1998

Spectral Features from Ultrarelativistic Ions in Gamma-Ray Bursts?

Gamma ray burst outflows may entrain small blobs or filaments of dense, highly ionized metal rich material. Such inhomogeneities, accelerated by the flow to Lorentz factors in the range 10-100, could have a significant coverage factor, and give rise to broad features, especially due to Fe K-edges, which influence the spectrum below the MeV range, leading to a progressively decreasing hardness ratio.

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arXiv1998

Multi-Wavelength Afterglows in Gamma-Ray Bursts: Refreshed Shock and Jet Effects

We present an analytical approach to calculate the hydrodynamics of the interaction between a relativistic ejecta and a surrounding medium, whose evolution serves as a model for Gamma-Ray Burst afterglows. We investigate the effect of the relevant model parameters on the X-ray, optical and radio fluxes, and the effect of a refreshed shock energy input and anisotropy in the ejecta on the shape of the light curves. We compare our numerical results to observed afterglows and give a quantitative description of the conditions (geometry and physical parameters) in the ejecta that are compatible with the light curves of the 970508 afterglow, for which a large number of accurate flux measurements are available.

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arXiv1998

Radiative Regimes in Gamma-Ray Bursts and Afterglows

We present numerical simulations of Gamma-Ray Bursts arising from external shocks in the impulsive and wind models, including a weak or a strong coupling between electrons and protons plus magnetic fields, and analyze the burst features in each scenario. The dynamics of the ejecta and external medium are followed into the late stages of deceleration, in order to study the hydrodynamics of the remnant and the temporal and spectral evolution of the afterglow. A brief comparison with the optical and radio afterglows of GRB 970228 and GRB 970508 is made.

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arXiv1997

Refreshed Shocks and Afterglow Longevity in GRB

We consider fireball models where the ejecta have a range of bulk Lorentz factors, so that the inner (lower $Γ$) parts may carry most of the mass, or even most of the energy. The outer shock and contact discontinuity decelerate as the fireball sweeps up external matter. This deceleration allows slower ejecta to catch up, replenishing and reenergizing the reverse shock and boosting the momentum in the blast wave. In consequence, the energy available to power the afterglow may substantially exceed that of the burst itself. Such models allow a wide range of possibilities for the afterglow evolution, even in the case of spherically symmetric expansion.

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arXiv1997

A Principal Component Analysis of the 3B Gamma-Ray Burst Data

We have carried out a principal component analysis for 625 gamma-ray bursts in the BATSE 3B catalog for which non-zero values exist for the nine measured variables. This shows that only two out of the three basic quantities of duration, peak flux and fluence are independent, even if this relation is strongly affected by instrumental effects, and these two account for 91.6% of the total information content. The next most important variable is the fluence in the fourth energy channel (at energies above 320 keV). This has a larger variance and is less correlated with the fluences in the remaining three channels than the latter correlate among themselves. Thus a separate consideration of the fourth channel, and increased attention on the related hardness ratio $H43$ appears useful for future studies. The analysis gives the weights for the individual measurements needed to define a single duration, peak flux and fluence. It also shows that, in logarithmic variables, the hardness ratio $H32$ is significantly correlated with peak flux, while $H43$ is significantly anticorrelated with peak flux. The principal component analysis provides a potentially useful tool for estimating the improvement in information content to be achieved by considering alternative variables or performing various corrections on available measurements

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arXiv1997

Viewing Angle and Environment Effects in GRB: Sources of Afterglow Diversity

We discuss the afterglows from the evolution of both spherical and anisotropic fireballs decelerating in an inhomogeneous external medium. We consider both the radiative and adiabatic evolution regimes, and analyze the physical conditions under which these regimes can be used. Afterglows may be expected to differ widely among themselves, depending on the angular anisotropy of the fireball and the properties of the environment. They may be entirely absent, or may be detected without a corresponding $γ$-ray event. A tabulation of different representative light curves is presented, covering a wide range of behaviors that resemble what is currently observed in GRB 970228, GRB 970508 and other objects.

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arXiv1997

Theoretical Models of Gamma-Ray Bursts

Models of gamma ray bursts are reviewed in the light of recent observations of afterglows which point towards a cosmological origin. The physics of fireball shock models is discussed, with attention to the type of light histories and spectra during the gamma-ray phase. The evolution of the remnants and their afterglows is considered, as well as their implications for our current understanding of the mechanisms giving rise to the bursts.

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arXiv1997

Rings in Fireball Afterglows

We derive the equation for the surface of equal arrival times of radiation from a thin relativistic shell interacting with an external medium, representing the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst produced by a fireball. Due to the deceleration, these surfaces become distorted ellipsoids and, at sufficiently late times, most of the light (either bolometric or in a given band) comes from a ring-like region whose width depends only on age. We analyze the shape of these surfaces and the radiation received from different angles for different dynamic and radiative regimes and homogeneous or power-law external densities. We calculate angle-integrated bolometric and fixed frequency fluxes, and we tabulate the most relevant parameters that describe the equal arrival time surfaces and the source brightness distribution, quantities that are useful for more accurate analytic estimates of the afterglow evolution.

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arXiv1997

Simulations of Gamma-Ray Bursts from External Shocks: Time Variability and Spectral Correlations

We compute burst spectra and time structures arising from synchrotron and inverse Compton scattering by non-thermal electrons accelerated in shocks which form during the interaction between a thin ultra-relativistic fireball and a stationary external medium. We investigate the effect of varying the most important model parameters on the resulting burst spectra, and we present a set of correlations among the spectral and temporal features of the bursts. The spectral hardness, various spectral-temporal correlations and the spectral evolution of the simulated bursts are compared to those of observed bursts for a representative set of model parameters. Multi-pulse structures are simulated using a variable magnetic field and anisotropic emission, and the most important spectral and temporal properties of these pulses are compared with observations.

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arXiv1997

Impact of Relativistic Fireballs on External Matter : Numerical Models of Cosmological Gamma-Ray Bursts

We numerically model the interaction between an expanding fireball and a stationary external medium whose density is either homogeneous or varies with distance as a power-law. The evolution is followed until most of the fireball kinetic energy is converted into internal energy. The density, pressure and flow Lorentz factor profiles are shown at different stages, including shock and rarefaction wave reflections, for a fireball of initial bulk Lorentz factor Gamma = 100, both in the adiabatic and non-adiabatic (radiative) regimes. For cooling times shorter than the dynamic time, bolometric light-curves are computed for values of Gamma = 50, 100 and 200. We compare the numerical light-curves with analytic results, and find that for a homogeneous external medium there is a simple scaling relationship among light-curves obtained for different parameters. The light-curves for power-law external densities are similar in shape to those in the homogeneous case. We discuss the implications of a comparison of the results with observed Gamma-Ray Burst time histories.

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arXiv1997

Poynting Jets from Black Holes and Cosmological Gamma-Ray Bursts

We discuss the properties of magnetically dominated jet-like outflows from stellar mass black holes surrounded by debris tori resulting from neutron star disruption. These jets may have narrow cores (along the rotation axis) which are almost free of baryons and attain very high bulk Lorentz factors $\simg 10^6$. The jets give rise to a characteristic MeV to TeV emission as well as to relativistic shocks producing the usual MeV bursts. Because the outflow is highly directional the properties of the observed gamma-rays would depend on the viewing angle relative to the rotation axis. Even for the most intense bursts, which under the assumption of isotropic emission and substantial redshifts would be inferred to emit $10^{52}-10^{53}$ erg, the efficiencies required are only $10^{-2}-10^{-4}$.

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arXiv1997

Constraints on the Redshift and Luminosity Distributions of Gamma Ray Bursts in an Einstein-de Sitter Universe

Two models of the gamma ray burst population, one with a standard candle luminosity and one with a power law luminosity distribution, are chi^2-fitted to the union of two data sets: the differential number versus peak flux distribution of BATSE's long duration bursts, and the time dilation and energy shifting versus peak flux information of pulse duration time dilation factors, interpulse duration time dilation factors, and peak energy shifting factors. The differential peak flux distribution is corrected for threshold effects at low peak fluxes and at short burst durations, and the pulse duration time dilation factors are also corrected for energy stretching and similar effects. Within an Einstein-de Sitter cosmology, we place strong bounds on the evolution of the bursts, and these bounds are incompatible with a homogeneous population, assuming a power law spectrum and no luminosity evolution. Additionally, under the implied conditions of moderate evolution, the 90% width of the observed luminosity distribution is shown to be < 10^2, which is less constrained than others have demonstrated it to be assuming no evolution. Finally, redshift considerations indicate that if the redshifts of BATSE's faintest bursts are to be compatible with that which is currently known for galaxies, a standard candle luminosity is unacceptable, and in the case of the power law luminosity distribution, a mean luminosity < 10^57 ph s^-1 is favored.

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arXiv1996

Optical and Long Wavelength Afterglow from Gamma-Ray Bursts

We discuss the evolution of cosmological gamma-ray burst remnants, consisting of the cooling and expanding fireball ejecta together with any swept-up external matter, after the gamma-ray event. We show that significant optical emission is predicted which should be measurable for timescales of hours after the event, and in some cases radio emission may be expected days to weeks after the event. The flux at optical, X-ray and other long wavelengths decays as a power of time, and the initial value of the flux or magnitude, as well as the value of the time-decay exponent, should help to distinguish between possible types of dissipative fireball models.

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