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Register a new userDiverse Jet Structures Consistent with the Off-axis Afterglow of GRB 170817A
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The jet structure of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been controversial after the detection of GRB 170817A as the electromagnetic counterparts to the gravitational wave event GW170817. Different authors use different jet structures for calculating the afterglow light curves. We formulated a method to inversely reconstruct a jet structure from a given off-axis GRB afterglow, without assuming any functional form of the structure. By systematically applying our inversion method, we find that more diverse jet structures are consistent with the observed afterglow of GRB 170817A within errors: such as hollow-cone, spindle, Gaussian, and power-law jet structures. In addition, the total energy of the reconstructed jet is arbitrary, proportional to the ambient density $n_0$, with keeping the same jet shape if the parameters satisfy the degeneracy combination $n_0 varepsilon_mathrm{B}^{(p+1)/(p+5)} varepsilon_mathrm{e}^{4(p-1)/(p+5)} = mathrm{const.}$. Observational accuracy less than $sim 6$ per cent is necessary to distinguish the different shapes, while the degeneracy of the energy scaling would be broken by observing the spectral breaks and viewing angle. Future events in denser environment with brighter afterglows and observable spectral breaks are ideal for our inversion method to pin down the jet structure, providing the key to the jet formation and propagation.
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A relativistic electron-positron ($e^{+}e^{-}$) pair wind from a rapidly rotating, strongly magnetized neutron star (NS) would interact with a gamma-ray burst (GRB) external shock and reshapes afterglow emission signatures. Assuming that the merger remnant of GW170817 is a long-lived NS, we show that a relativistic $e^{+}e^{-}$ pair wind model with a simple top-hat jet viewed off-axis can reproduce multi-wavelength afterglow lightcurves and superluminal motion of GRB 170817A. The Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method is adopted to obtain the best-fitting parameters, which give the jet half-opening angle $theta_{j}approx0.11$ rad, and the viewing angle $theta_{v}approx0.23$ rad. The best-fitting value of $theta_{v}$ is close to the lower limit of the prior which is chosen based on the gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observations. In addition, we also derive the initial Lorentz factor $Gamma_{0}approx47$ and the isotropic kinetic energy $E_{rm K,iso}approx2times10^{52}rm erg$. A consistence between the corrected on-axis values for GRB 170817A and typical values observed for short GRBs indicates that our model can also reproduce the prompt emission of GRB 170817A. An NS with a magnetic field strength $B_{p}approx1.6times10^{13}rm G$ is obtained in our fitting, indicating that a relatively low thermalization efficiency $etalesssim10^{-3}$ is needed to satisfy observational constraints on the kilonova. Furthermore, our model is able to reproduce a late-time shallow decay in the X-ray lightcurve and predicts that the X-ray and radio flux will continue to decline in the coming years.
The afterglow of GRB 170817A has been detected for more than three years, but the origin of the multi-band afterglow light curves remains under debate. A classical top-hat jet model is faced with difficulties in producing a shallow rise of the afterglow light curves as observed $(F_{ u} propto T^{0.8})$. Here we reconsider the model of stratified ejecta with energy profile of $E(>Gamma beta)=E_0(Gamma beta)^{-k}$ as the origin of the afterglow light curves of the burst, where $Gamma$ and $beta$ are the Lorentz factor and speed of the ejecta, respectively. $k$ is the power-law slope of the energy profile. We consider the ejecta are collimated into jets. Two kinds of jet evolutions are investigated, including a lateral-spreading jet and a non-lateral-spreading jet. We fit the multi-band afterglow light curves, including the X-ray data at one thousand days post-burst, and find that both the models of the spreading and non-spreading jets can fit the light curves well, but the observed angular size of the source and the apparent velocity of the flux centroid for the spreading jet model are beyond the observation limits, while the non-spreading jet model meets the observation limits. Some of the best-fit parameters for the non-spreading jet model, such as the number density of the circumburst medium $sim10^{-2}$ cm$^{-3}$ and the total jet kinetic energy $E sim 4.8times 10^{51}$ erg, also appear plausible. The best-fit slope of the jet energy profile is $k sim 7.1$. Our results suggest that the afterglow of GRB 170817A may arise from the stratified jet and that the lateral spreading of the jet is not significant.
The short-duration ($lesssim2;$s) GRB 170817A in the nearby ($D=40;$Mpc) elliptical galaxy NGC 4993 is the first electromagnetic counterpart of the first gravitational wave (GW) detection of a binary neutron-star (NS-NS) merger. It was followed by optical, IR, and UV emission from half a day up to weeks after the event, as well as late time X-ray and radio emission. The early UV, optical, and IR emission showed a quasi-thermal spectrum suggestive of radioactive-decay powered kilonova-like emission. Comparison to kilonova models favors the formation of a short-lived ($sim1;$s) hypermassive NS, which is also supported by the $Delta tapprox1.74;$s delay between the GW chirp signal and the prompt GRB onset. However, the late onset of the X-ray (8.9$;$days) and radio (16.4$;$days) emission, together with the low isotropic equivalent $gamma$-ray energy output ($E_{rmgamma,iso}approx5times10^{46};$erg), strongly suggest emission from a narrow relativistic jet viewed off-axis. Here we set up a general framework for off-axis GRB jet afterglow emission, comparing analytic and numerical approaches, and showing their general predictions for short-hard GRBs that accompany binary NS mergers. The prompt GRB emission suggests a viewing angle well outside the jets core, and we compare the afterglow lightcurves expected in such a case to the X-ray to radio emission from GRB 170817A. We fit an afterglow off-axis jet model to the X-ray and radio data and find that the observations are explained by a viewing angle $theta_{rm obs}approx16^circ-26^circ$, GRB jet energy $Esim10^{48.5}-10^{49.5}~{rm erg}$, and external density $nsim10^{-5}-10^{-1}~{rm cm}^{-3}$ for a $xi_esim 0.1$ non-thermal electron acceleration efficiency.
In light of the most recent observations of late afterglows produced by the merger of compact objects or by the core-collapse of massive dying stars, we research the evolution of the afterglow produced by an off-axis top-hat jet and its interaction with a surrounding medium. The medium is parametrized by a power law distribution of the form $n(r)propto r^{-k}$ is the stratification parameter and contains the development when the surrounding density is constant ($k=0$) or wind-like ($k=2$). We develop an analytical synchrotron forward-shock model when the outflow is viewed off-axis, and it is decelerated by a stratified medium. Using the X-ray data points collected by a large campaign of orbiting satellites and ground telescopes, we have managed to apply our model and fit the X-ray spectrum of the GRB afterglow associated to SN 2020bvc with conventional parameters. Our model predicts that its circumburst medium is parametrized by a power law with stratification parameter $k=1.5$.
We verified the off-axis jet model of X-ray flashes (XRFs) and examined a discovery of off-axis orphan gamma-ray burst (GRBs) afterglows. The XRF sample was selected on the basis of the following three factors: (1) a constraint on the lower peak energy of the prompt spectrum $E^{src}_{obs}$, (2) redshift measurements, and (3) multi-color observations of an earlier (or brightening) phase. XRF020903 was the only sample selected basis of these criteria. A complete optical multi-color afterglow light curve of XRF020903 obtained from archived data and photometric results in literature showed an achromatic brightening around 0.7 days. An off-axis jet model with a large observing angle (0.21 rad, which is twice the jet opening half-angle, $theta_{jet}$) can naturally describe the achromatic brightening and the prompt X-ray spectral properties. This result indicates the existence of off-axis orphan GRB afterglow light curves. Events with a larger viewing angle ($>sim2theta_{jet}$) could be discovered using an 8-m class telescope with wide field imagers such as Subaru Hyper-Suprime-Cam and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.
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