No Arabic abstract
A spinar is a quasi-equilibrium collapsing object whose equilibrium is maintained by the balance of centrifugal and gravitational forces and whose evolution is determined by its magnetic field. The spinar quasi equilibrium model recently discussed as the course for extralong X-ray plateu in GRB (Lipunov & Gorbovskoy, 2007). We propose a simple non stationary three-parameter collapse model with the determining role of rotation and magnetic field in this paper. The input parameters of the theory are the mass, angular momentum, and magnetic field of the collapsar. The model includes approximate description of the following effects: centrifugal force, relativistic effects of the Kerr metrics, pressure of nuclear matter, dissipation of angular momentum due to magnetic field, decrease of the dipole magnetic moment due to compression and general-relativity effects (the black hole has no hare), neutrino cooling, time dilatation, and gravitational redshift. The model describes the temporal behavior of the central engine and demonstrates the qualitative variety of the types of such behavior in nature. We apply our approach to explain the observed features of gamma-ray bursts of all types. In particular, the model allows the phenomena of precursors, x-ray and optical bursts, and the appearance of a plateau on time scales of several thousand seconds to be unified.
The recently discovered gamma-ray burst GRB 070110 displayed an extraordinary X-ray afterglow with Xray radiation-i.e., an X-ray plateau-observed for 20,000 s. We show that the observed properties of the plateau can be naturally interpreted in terms of the model with a spinar-a quasi-equilibrium collapsing object whose equilibrium is maintained by the balance of centrifugal and gravitational forces and whose evolution is determined by its magnetic field. If this model is true, then for 1 hr, the Swift X-ray telescopes recorded radiation from an object with a size smaller than the Schwarzschild radius!
We present the analysis of a large sample of gamma-ray burst (GRB) X-ray light curves in the rest frame to characterise their intrinsic properties in the context of different theoretical scenarios. We determine the morphology, time scales, and energetics of 64 long GRBs observed by emph{Swift}/XRT emph{without} flaring activity. We furthermore provide a one-to-one comparison to the properties of GRBs emph{with} X-ray flares. We find that the steep decay morphology and its connection with X-ray flares favour a scenario in which a central engine origin. We show that this scenario can also account for the shallow decay phase, provided that the GRB progenitor star has a self-similar structure with a constant envelope-to-core mass ratio $sim 0.02-0.03$. However, difficulties arise for very long duration ($t_pgtrsim10^4$ s) shallow phases. Alternatively, a spinning-down magnetar whose emitted power refreshes the forward shock can quantitatively account for the shallow decay properties. In particular we demonstrate that this model can account for the plateau luminosity vs. end time anticorrelation.
Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) have been tried to be related to the most varied and powerful sources known in the universe. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are natural candidates. Here, we argue that cosmic rays can be accelerated by large amplitude electromagnetic waves (LAEMWs) when the MHD approximation of the field in the wind generated by the GRBs magnetized central engine breaks down. The central engine considered here is a strange star born with differential rotation from the accretion induced conversion of a neutron star into a strange star in a low-mass X-ray binary system. The LAEMWs generated this way accelerate light ions to the highest energies $E = qetaDeltaPhi_{max}$ with an efficiency $eta sim 10^{-1}$ that accounts for all plausible energy losses. Alternatively, we also consider the possibility that, once formed, the LAEMWs are unstable to creation of a relativistically strong electromagnetic turbulence due to an overturn instability. Under this assumption, a lower limit to the efficiency of acceleration is estimated to be about $eta sim 10^{-2.5}$. Due to their age, low mass X-ray binary systems can be located in regions of low interstellar medium density as, e.g., globular clusters or even intergalactic medium in case of high proper motion systems, and cosmic ray energy losses due to proton collisions with photons at the decelerating region are avoided, thus opening the possibility for particles to exploit the full voltage available, well beyond that currently observed.
The central engine of Gamma Ray Bursts may live much longer than the duration of the prompt emission. Some evidence of it comes from the presence of strong precursors, post-cursors, and X-ray flares in a sizable fraction of bursts. Additional evidence comes from the fact that often the X-ray and the optical afterglow light curves do not track one another, suggesting that they are two different emission components. The typical steep-flat-steep behavior of the X-ray light curve can be explained if the same central engine responsible for the main prompt emission continues to be active for a long time, but with a decreasing power. The early X-ray afterglow emission is then the extension of the prompt emission, originating at approximately the same location, and is not due to forward shocks. If the bulk Lorentz factor Gamma is decreasing in time, the break ending the shallow phase can be explained, since at early times Gamma is large, and we see only a fraction of the emitting area. Later, when Gamma decreases, we see an increasing fraction of the emitting surface up to the time when Gamma ~ 1/theta_j. This time ends the shallow phase of the X-ray light curve. The origin of the late prompt emission can be the accretion of the fall-back material, with an accretion rate dot M proportional to t^(-5/3). The combination of this late prompt emission with the flux produced by the standard forward shock can explain the great diversity of the optical and the X-ray light curves.
Short gamma-ray bursts may originate from the merger of double neutron stars (NS) or that of a black hole (BH) and an NS. We propose that the bright X-ray flare related to the central engine reactivity may hint a BH-NS merger, since such a merger can provide more fall-back materials and therefore a more massive accretion disk than the NS-NS merger. Based on the observed 49 short bursts with Swift/X-ray Telescope follow-up observations, we find that three bursts have bright X-ray flares, among which three flares from two bursts are probably related to the central engine reactivity. We argue that these two bursts may originate from the BH-NS merger rather than the NS-NS merger. Our suggested link between the central engine-powered bright X-ray flare and the BH-NS merger event can be checked by the future gravitational wave detections from advanced LIGO and Virgo.