No Arabic abstract
As the standard gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt-emission model, the internal shock (IS) model can reproduce the fast-rise and slow-decay features of the pulses in the GRB light curve. The time- and energy-dependent polarization can deliver important physical information on the emission region and can be used to test models. Polarization predictions for the GRB prompt phase with the magnetized IS model should be investigated carefully. The magnetic field of the magnetized IS model is very likely to be mixed and decays with radius. The synchrotron emission in the presence of such a decaying magnetic field can recover the Band-like spectrum of the GRB prompt phase. We investigate the dependence of the polarization of GRB prompt emission on both time and energy in the framework of the magnetized IS model. Due to the large range of parameters, it is hard to distinguish the magnetized IS model and the magnetic-reconnection model through polarization degree (PD) curves. The energy-dependent PD could increase toward the high-energy band for the magnetized IS model, while it decreases to zero above the megaelectronvolt band for the dissipative photosphere model. Therefore, we conclude that the energy dependence of PD can be used to distinguish these two models for the GRB prompt emission. Finally, we find that, independent of the observational energy band, the profiles of the $xi_B-PD$ curve for the time-integrated and time-resolved PDs are very similar, where $xi_B$ is the magnetic field strength ratio of the ordered component to the random component.
Gamma-ray burst GRB 140430A was detected by the Swift satellite and observed promptly with the imaging polarimeter RINGO3 mounted on the Liverpool Telescope, with observations beginning while the prompt $gamma$-ray emission was still ongoing. In this paper, we present densely sampled (10-second temporal resolution) early optical light curves in 3 optical bands and limits to the degree of optical polarization. We compare optical, X-ray and gamma-ray properties and present an analysis of the optical emission during a period of high-energy flaring. The complex optical light curve cannot be explained merely with a combination of forward and reverse shock emission from a standard external shock, implying additional contribution of emission from internal shock dissipation. We estimate an upper limit for time averaged optical polarization during the prompt phase to be as low as P < 12% (1$sigma$). This suggests that the optical flares and early afterglow emission in this GRB are not highly polarized. Alternatively, time averaging could mask the presence of otherwise polarized components of distinct origin at different polarization position angles.
We compute the expected luminosity function of GRBs in the context of the internal shock model. We assume that GRB central engines generate relativistic outflows characterized by the respective distributions of injected kinetic power Edot and contrast in Lorentz factor Kappa = Gamma_max/Gamma_min. We find that if the distribution of contrast extends down to values close to unity (i.e. if both highly variable and smooth outflows can exist) the luminosity function has two branches. At high luminosity it follows the distribution of Edot while at low luminosity it is close to a power law of slope -0.5. We then examine if existing data can constrain the luminosity function. Using the log N - log P curve, the Ep distribution of bright BATSE bursts and the XRF/GRB ratio obtained by HETE2 we show that single and broken power-laws can provide equally good fits of these data. Present observations are therefore unable to favor one form of the other. However when a broken power-law is adopted they clearly indicate a low luminosity slope ~ -0.6 +- 0.2, compatible with the prediction of the internal shock model.
Several trends have been identified in the prompt gamma-ray burst (GRB) emission: e.g. hard-to-soft evolution, pulse width evolution with energy, time lags, hardness-intensity/-fluence correlations. Recently Fermi has significantly extended the spectral coverage of GRB observations and improved the characterization of this spectral evolution. We study how internal shocks can reproduce these observations. In this model the emission comes from the synchrotron radiation of shock accelerated electrons, and the spectral evolution is governed by the evolution of the physical conditions in the shocked regions. We present a comprehensive set of simulations of a single pulse and investigate the impact of the model parameters, related to the shock microphysics and to the initial conditions in the ejecta. We find a general qualitative agreement between the model and the various observations used for the comparison. All these properties or relations are governed by the evolution of the peak energy and photon indices of the spectrum. In addition, we identify the conditions for a quantitative agreement. We find that the best agreement is obtained for (i) steep electron slopes (p>~2.7), (ii) microphysics parameters varying with shock conditions so that more electrons are accelerated in stronger shocks, (iii) steep variations of the initial Lorentz factor in the ejecta. When simulating short GRBs by contracting all timescales, all other parameters being unchanged, we show that the hardness-duration correlation is reproduced, as well as the evolution with duration of the pulse properties. Finally, we investigate the signature at high energy of these different scenarios and find distinct properties - delayed onset, longer emission, and flat spectrum in some cases - suggesting that internal shocks could have a significant contribution to the prompt LAT emission. [abridged]
While the Band function or other phenomenological functions are commonly used to fit GRB prompt emission spectra, we propose a new parametric function that is inspired by an internal shock physical model. We use this function as a proxy of the model to confront it easily to GRB observations. We built a parametric function that represents the spectral form of the synthetic bursts provided by our internal shock synchrotron model (ISSM). We simulated the response of the Fermi instruments to the synthetic bursts and fitted the obtained count spectra to validate the ISSM function. Then, we applied this function to a sample of 74 bright GRBs detected by the Fermi/GBM, and we computed the width of their spectral energy distributions around their peak energy. For comparison, we fitted also the phenomenological functions that are commonly used in the literature. Finally, we performed a time-resolved analysis of the broadband spectrum of GRB 090926A, which was jointly detected by the Fermi GBM and LAT. The ISSM function reproduces 81% of the spectra in the GBM bright GRB sample, versus 59% for the Band function, for the same number of parameters. It gives also relatively good fits to the GRB 090926A spectra. The width of the MeV spectral component that is obtained from the fits of the ISSM function is slightly larger than the width from the Band fits, but it is smaller when observed over a wider energy range. Moreover, all of the 74 analysed spectra are found to be significantly wider than the synthetic synchrotron spectra. We discuss possible solutions to reconcile the observations with the internal shock synchrotron model, such as an improved modeling of the shock micro-physics or more accurate spectral measurements at MeV energies.
The Supercritical Pile is a very economical GRB model that provides for the efficient conversion of the energy stored in the protons of a Relativistic Blast Wave (RBW) into radiation and at the same time produces - in the prompt GRB phase, even in the absence of any particle acceleration - a spectral peak at energy $sim 1$ MeV. We extend this model to include the evolution of the RBW Lorentz factor $Gamma$ and thus follow its spectral and temporal features into the early GRB afterglow stage. One of the novel features of the present treatment is the inclusion of the feedback of the GRB produced radiation on the evolution of $Gamma$ with radius. This feedback and the presence of kinematic and dynamic thresholds in the model are sources of potentially very rich time evolution which we have began to explore. In particular, one can this way obtain afterglow light curves with steep decays followed by the more conventional flatter afterglow slopes, while at the same time preserving the desirable features of the model, i.e. the well defined relativistic electron source and radiative processes that produce the proper peak in the $ u F_{ u}$ spectra. In this note we present the results of a specific set of parameters of this model with emphasis on the multiwavelength prompt emission and transition to the early afterglow.