arXiv subjects

T. Lu

Publications and source records attributed to T. Lu.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

Spectrum and Duration of Delayed MeV-GeV Emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts in Cosmic Background Radiation Fields

We generally analyze prompt high-energy emission above a few hundreds of GeV due to synchrotron self-Compton scattering in internal shocks. However, such photons cannot be detected because they may collide with cosmic infrared background photons, leading to electron/positron pair production. Inverse-Compton scattering of the resulting electron/positron pairs off cosmic microwave background photons will produce delayed MeV-GeV emission, which may be much stronger than a typical high-energy afterglow in the external shock model. We expand on the Cheng & Cheng model by deriving the emission spectrum and duration in the standard fireball shock model. A typical duration of the emission is ~ 10^3 seconds, and the time-integrated scattered photon spectrum is nu^{-(p+6)/4}, where p is the index of the electron energy distribution behind internal shocks. This is slightly harder than the synchrotron photon spectrum, nu^{-(p+2)/2}. The lower energy property of the scattered photon spectrum is dependent on the spectral energy distribution of the cosmic infrared background radiation. Therefore, future observations on such delayed MeV-GeV emission and the higher-energy spectral cutoff by the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) would provide a probe of the cosmic infrared background radiation.

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arXiv2002

Failed gamma-ray bursts and orphan afterglows

It is believed that orphan afterglow searches can help to measure the beaming angle in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Great expectations have been put on this method. We point out that the method is in fact not as simple as we originally expected. Due to the baryon-rich environment that is common to almost all popular progenitor models, there should be many failed gamma-ray bursts, i.e., fireballs with Lorentz factor much less than 100 -- 1000, but still much larger than unity. In fact, the number of failed gamma-ray bursts may even be much larger than that of successful bursts. Owing to the existence of these failed gamma-ray bursts, there should be many orphan afterglows even if GRBs are due to isotropic fireballs, then the simple discovery of orphan afterglows never means that GRBs be collimated. Unfortunately, to distinguish a failed-GRB orphan and a jetted but off-axis GRB orphan is not an easy task. The major problem is that the trigger time is unknown. Some possible solutions to the problem are suggested.

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arXiv2002

Can all breaks in GRB afterglows be explained by jet effects?

Whether gamma-ray bursts are highly beamed or not is a very important question, since it has been pointed out that the beaming will lead to a sharp break in the afterglow light curves during the ultra-relativistic phase, with the breaking point determined by $Γ\sim 1/θ_{0}$, where $Γ$ is the bulk Lorentz factor and $θ_{0}$ is the initial half opening angle of the ejecta, and such a break is claimed to be present in the light curves of some GRBs. In this paper we will examine whether all the observed breaks in GRB afterglow light curves can be explained by jet effects. Here we present a detailed calculation of the jet evolution and emission, and have obtained a simple formula of bulk Lorentz factor evolution. We show that the light curves are very smoothly steepened by jet effect, and the shape of the light curve is determined by only one parameter -- $(E/n)^{1/8} θ_{0}^{3/4}$, where E and n are the fireball energy and surrounding medium density. We find that for GRB990123 and GRB991216, the jet model can approximately fit their light curves, and the values of $(E_{51}/n_1)^{1/8} θ_{0}^{3/4}$ are about 0.17 and 0.22 respectively. While for GRB990510, GRB000301c, GRB000926 and GRB010222, their light curves cannot be fitted by the jet model, which suggests that the breaks may be caused by some other reasons, jet should be not the unique reason.

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arXiv2002

Hydrodynamics of Relativistic Blast Waves in a Density-Jump Medium and Their Emission Signature

We analyze in detail the hydrodynamics and afterglow emission of an ultrarelativistic blast wave when it expands in a density-jump medium. Such a medium is likely to appear in the vicinity of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) associated with massive stars. The interaction of the blast wave with this medium is described through a reverse shock and a forward shock. We show that the reverse shock is initially relativistic if the factor of a density jump ($α$) is much larger than 21, and Newtonian if $1<α\ll 21$. We also calculate light curves of the afterglow emission during the interaction if the reverse shock is relativistic, and find that the optical flux density initially decays abruptly, then rises rapidly, and finally fades based on a power-law, which could be followed by an abrupt decay when the reverse shock has just crossed the originally swept-up matter. Therefore, one property of an afterglow occurring in a large-density-jump medium is an abrupt drop followed by a bump in the light curve and thus provides a probe of circumburst environments. In addition, this property could not only account for the optical afterglows of GRB 970508 and GRB 000301C but also explain the X-ray afterglow of GRB 981226.

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arXiv2001

Overall Temporal Synchrotron Emissions from Relativistic Jets: Adiabatic and Radiative Breaks

We discuss the GRB afterglow emission from a relativistic jet that is initially in the radiative regime in which the accelerated electrons are fast cooling. We note that such a ``semiradiative'' jet decelerates faster than an adiabatic jet does. We also take into account the effect of strong inverse-Compton scattering on the cooling frequency in the synchrotron component and therefore on the light curve decay index. We find that there are two kinds of light-curve break for the jet effect. The first is an ``adiabatic break'' if the electrons become slow cooling before the jet enters a spreading phase, and the second is a ``radiative break'' which appears on the contrary case. We then show how a relativistic jet evolves dynamically and derive the overall temporal synchrotron emission in both cases, focusing on the change in light curve decay index around the break time. Finally, in view of our results, we rule out two cases for relativistic jets to account for the observed light curve breaks in a few afterglows: (i) an adiabatic jet with strong Compton cooling (Y>1) and with the cooling frequency nu_c locating in the observed energy range; (ii) a radiative jet with a significant fraction of total energy occupied by electrons (epsilon_e 1).

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arXiv2001

Are some breaks in GRB afterglows caused by their spectra?

Sharp breaks have been observed in the afterglow light curves of several GRBs; this is generally explained by the jet model. However, there are still some uncertainties concerning this interpretation due to the unclear hydrodynamics of jet sideways expansion. Here we propose an alternative explanation to these observed breaks. If we assume that the multiwavelength spectra of GRB afterglows are not made of exact power law segments but their slope changes smoothly, i.e. $dβ/d logν<0$, where $β$ is the spectral index, we find that this fact can very nicely explain the afterglow light curves showing breaks. Therefore we suggest that some breaks in the afterglow light curves may be caused by their curved spectra. The main feature of this interpretation is that the break time is dependent on the observed frequency, while the jet model produces achromatic breaks in the light curves. In addition, it is very important to know the position of the characteristic frequency $ν_{c}$ in the multiwavelength spectrum at the time of the break, since it is a further discriminant between our model and the jet model. We find that although the optical light curves of seven GRB afterglows can be well fitted by the model we propose, in fact only one of them (i.e. GRB000926) can be explained in this framework, since for other ones the characteristic frequency $ν_{c}$ is either above the optical after the break or below the optical before the break.

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arXiv2001

The Inverse Compton Emission Spectra in the Very Early Afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts

We calculate the spectra of inverse Compton (IC) emissions in gamma-ray burst (GRB) shocks produced when relativistic ejecta encounters the external interstellar medium, assuming a broken power-law approximation to the synchrotron seed spectrum. Four IC processes, including the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) processes in GRB forward and reverse shocks, and two combined-IC processes (i.e. scattering of reverse shock photons on the electrons in forward shocks and forward shock photons on the electrons in reverse shocks), are considered. We find that the SSC emission from reverse shocks dominates over other emission processes in energy bands from tens of MeV to tens of GeV, for a wide range of shock parameters. This mechanism may be responsible for the prompt high energy gamma-rays detected by the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET). At TeV energy bands, however, the combined-IC emissions and/or the SSC emission from the forward shocks become increasingly dominant for a moderately steep distribution of shocked electrons.

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arXiv2001

Light Curves of Jetted Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows in Circumstellar Clouds

The afterglow emission from a spreading jet expanding in a circumstellar cloud is discussed. Prompt X-ray radiation and a strong UV flash from the reverse shock produced by the interaction of the jet with the cloud may destroy and clear the dust out to about 30 pc within the initial solid angle of the jet. As the sideways expansion of the jet becomes significant, most of the optical radiation from the high-latitude part of the jet may be absorbed by the dust outside the initial solid angle of the jet, but only the radiation from the part within the initial solid angle can be observed. We analytically show that the flux of the observational radiation decays as $\propto t^{-(p+1)}$ (where $p$ is the power-law index of the electron distribution) in the relativistic phase. This preliminary result motivates us to perform numerical calculations. Our results show that one break in the optical afterglow ligh curve extends over a factor of $\sim 3$ in time rather than one decade in time in the previous jet model. These results may provide a way to judge whether GRBs locate in dense clouds or not. Finally, we carry out a detailed modelling for the R-band afterglow of GRB 000926.

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arXiv2001

Gamma-ray bursts: afterglows from cylindrical jets

Nearly all previous discussion on beaming effects in GRBs have assumed a conical geometry. However, more and more observations on relativistic jets in radio galaxies, active galactic nuclei, and "microquasars" in the Galaxy have shown that many of these outflows are not conical, but cylindrical, i.e., they maintain constant cross sections at large scales. Thus it is necessary to discuss the possibility that GRBs may be due to highly collimated cylindrical jets, not conical ones. Here we study the dynamical evolution of cylindrical jets and discuss their afterglows. Both analytical and numerical results are presented. It is shown that when the lateral expansion is not taken into account, a cylindrical jet typically remains to be highly relativistic for \sim 10^8 - 10^9 s. During this relativistic phase, the optical afterglow decays as \propto t^{-p/2} at first, where p is the index characterizing the power-law energy distribution of electrons. Then the light curve steepens to be \propto t^{-(p+1)/2} due to cooling of electrons. After entering the non-relativistic phase (i.e., t > 10^{11} s), the afterglow is \propto t^{-(5p-4)/6}. But if the cylindrical jet expands laterally at co-moving sound speed, then the decay becomes \propto t^{-p} and \propto t^{-(15p-21)/10} - t^{-(15p-20)/10} in the ultra-relativistic and non-relativistic phase respectively. Note that in both cases, the light curve turns flatter after the relativistic-Newtonian transition point, which differs markedly from the behaviour of a conical jet. It is suggested that some GRBs with afterglows decaying as t^{-1.1} - t^{-1.3} may be due to cylindrical jets, not necessarily isotropic fireballs.

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arXiv2001

Gamma-Ray Bursts: Afterglows and Central Engines

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are most intense transient gamma-ray events in the sky when they are on together with the strong evidences (i.e. the isotropic and inhomogeneous distribution of GRBs detected by BASTE) that they are located at cosmological distances, which make them the most energetic events ever known. For example, the observed radiation energies of some GRBs are equivalent to convert more than one solar mass energy into radiation completely. This is thousand times stronger than that of supernova explosion. Unconventional energy mechanisms and extremely high conversion efficiency for these mysterious events are required. The discovery of host galaxies and association with supernovae in the cosmological distances by the recently launched satellite of BeppoSAX and ground based radio and optical telescopes in GRB afterglow provides further support to the cosmological origin of GRBs and put strong constraints on central engines of GRBs. It is the aim of this article to review the possible central engines, energy mechanisms, dynamical and spectral evolution of GRBs, especially focusing on the afterglows in multi-wavebands.

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arXiv2001

GRBS: Standard Model & Beyond

There have been great and rapid progresses in the field of $γ$-ray bursts since BeppoSAX and other telescopes discovered their afterglows in 1997. In this talk, the main observational facts of $γ$-ray bursts and their afterglows, and the standard fireball shock model are reviewed briefly. And then, various post-standard effects, deviations from the standard model, are presented.

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arXiv2000

Neutrino Afterglows and Progenitors of Gamma-Ray Bursts

Currently popular models for progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the mergers of compact objects and the explosions of massive stars. These two cases have distinctive environments for GRBs: compact object mergers occur in the interstellar medium (ISM) and the explosions of massive stars occur in the preburst stellar wind. We here discuss neutrino afterglows from reverse shocks as a result of the interaction of relativistic fireballs with their surrounding wind matter. After comparing with the analytical result of Waxman & Bahcall (2000) for the homogeneous ISM case, we find that the differential spectrum of neutrinos with energy from $\sim 3\times 10^{15}$ to $\sim 3\times 10^{17}$ eV in the wind case is softer by one power of the energy than in the ISM case. Furthermore, the expected flux of upward moving muons produced by neutrino interactions below a detector on the surface of the Earth in the wind case is $\sim 5$ events per year per km$^2$, which is about one order of magnitude larger than in the ISM case. In addition, these properties are independent of whether the fireballs are isotropic or beamed. Therefore, neutrino afterglows, if detected, may provide a way of distinguishing between GRB progenitor models based on the differential spectra of neutrinos and their event rates in a detector.

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arXiv2000

Prompt High Energy $γ$-Ray Emission From the Synchrotron Self-Compton Process in the Reverse Shocks of $γ$-Ray Bursts

In the standard scenario of the fireball model of gamma-ray bursts(GRBs), the huge initial energy release produces a relativistic blast wave expanding into the external medium and a reverse shock moving into and heating the fireball ejecta. We calculate the high energy gamma-ray emission due to inverse Compton scattering of the synchrotron photons from relativistic electrons in the reverse shock. Under the favorable values of the physical parameters of the GRBs and the interstellar medium, our result shows that during the prompt phase, this emission dominates over the component from the forward shock at high energy gamma-ray bands. This mechanism can excellently account for the observations of the prompt high energy gamma-rays detected by EGRET, such as from GRB930131.

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arXiv2000

Gamma-ray burst afterglows from jetted shocks in wind environments

Gamma-ray bursts with long durations are widely thought to arise from the collapse of massive stars, where the wind environment is unavoidable. It is also believed that $γ$-ray bursts come from jets. Considering these two points in this paper, we calculate the evolution of a highly collimated jet that expands in a stellar wind environment and the expected afterglow from such a jet. We use a set of refined dynamical equations and a realistic lateral speed of the jet, and find: (1) There is no observable break at the time when the Lorentz factor of the jet is equal to the inverse of its initial half-opening angle. (2) No obvious break appears at the time when the blast wave transits from the relativistic to the non-relativistic phase. (3) For the wind case, there is no flattening tendency even up to $10^9$ s. (4) Compared with the homogeneous medium case, our calculated flux is weaker in the stellar wind case. Finally, we find that two kinds of GRB models (neutron star mergers and massive star collapses) may be discriminated in our numerical results.

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arXiv2000

Intrinsic Parameters of GRB990123 from Its Prompt Optical Flash and Afterglow

We have constrained the intrinsic parameters, such as the magnetic energy density fraction ($ε_{B}$), the electron energy density fraction ($ε_e$), the initial Lorentz factor ($Γ_0$) and the Lorentz factor of the reverse external shock ($Γ_{rs}$), of GRB990123, in terms of the afterglow information (forward shock model) and the optical flash information (reverse shock model). Our result shows: 1) the inferred values of $ε_e$ and $ε_B$ are consistent with the suggestion that they may be universal parameters, comparing to those inferred for GRB970508; 2) the reverse external shock may have become relativistic before it passed through the ejecta shell. Other instrinsic parameters of GRB990123, such as energy contained in the forward shock $E$ and the ambient density $n$ are also determined and discussed in this paper.

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arXiv2000

The evolution of beamed GRB afterglow: non-relativistic case

There has been increasing evidence that at least some GRBs are emission beamed. The beamed GRB afterglow evolution has been discussed by several authors in the ultra-relativistic case. It has been shown that the dynamics of the blast wave will be significantly modified by the sideways expansion, and there may be a sharp break in the afterglow light curves under certain circumstances. However, this is true only when the fireball is still relativistic. Here we present an analytical approach to the evolution of the beamed GRB blast wave expanding in the surrounding medium (density $n\propto r^{-s}$) in the non-relativistic case, our purpose is to explore whether the sideways expansion will strongly affect the blast wave evolution as in the relativistic case. We find that the blast wave evolution is strongly dependent on the speed of the sideways expansion. If it expands with the sound speed, then the jet angle $θ$ increases with time as $θ\propto ln t$, which means that the sideways expansion has little effect on the afterglow light curves, the flux $F\propto t^{-\frac{3(5α-1)}{5}}$ for $s=0$ and $F\propto t^{-\frac{7α+1}{3}}$ for $s=2$.It is clear that the light curve of $s=2$ is not always steeper than that of $s=0$, as in the relativistic case.We also show that if the expansion speed is a constant, then the jet angle $θ\propto t$, and the radius $r \propto t^{0}$, in this case the sideways expansion has the most significant effect on the blast wave evolution, the flux $F\propto t^{-(5α-1)}$ independent of $s$, and we expect that there should be a smooth and gradual break in the light curve.

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arXiv2000

The influence of inverse Compton scattering on GRB afterglows: one possible way to flatten and steepen the light curves

The fireball model of gamma-ray bursts predicted that when the energetic blast wave encountered the surrounding medium, there will be afterglow emission, and the subsequent afterglow observations appeared to confirm this prediction. In this simplest fireball model, the electrons have been accelerated to a power law energy distribution in a relativistic blast wave, then they give afterglow emission through synchrotron radiation. Up to now synchrotron radiation is believed to be the main mechanism of GRB emission, however, here we will show that under some circumstances, the inverse Compton scattering (ICS) may play an important role, and can change the light curves of GRB afterglows. Here we investigate the effects of ICS in the relativistic case (the surrounding medium density $ρ\propto r^{-2}$) and in the non-relativistic case (for both $ρ=constant$ and $ρ\propto r^{-2}$), we find that in the relativistic case the effect of ICS is usually important, while in the non-relativistic case, this effect is usually unimportant, unless the surrounding medium density is very high. We show that if ICS is important, then it can flatten and steepen the light curves of GRB afterglows, and this may provide the explanation for some afterglow observations.

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arXiv2000

A Possible Model for the Supernova/Gamma-Ray Burst Connection

Conversion from neutron stars to strange stars as a possible mechanism of cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been discussed in previous works, although the existence of strange stars is still an open question. On the basis of this mechanism, we here outline an explanation of the connection between supernovae (SNe) and GRBs, which has got increasing evidence recently. An asymmetric but normal SN explosion leaves a massive ($\geq1.8{\rm M_\odot}$) and rapidly rotating neutron star, which then converts to a strange star few days later, due to its rapid spindown. The accompanied fireball, which can be accelerated to ultra-relativistic velocity ($Γ_0\sim 100$) due to the very low baryon contamination of the strange star, flows out along the direction of the high-velocity SN jet and subsequently produces a GRB and the following low energy afterglows by interacting with the surrounding stellar wind. We will also expect a very luminous supernova like SN1998bw, if a large fraction of the conversion energy finally turns into the kinetic energy of the supernova ejecta.

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