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Register a new userShort GRBs Viewed from Far Off Axis
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David Eichler
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The recent radio observations (Mooley et al, 2018) of a superluminal radio afterglow following GRB 170817A are interpreted in terms of a jet impacting a baryonic cloak, which is presumably the material caught at the front of the jet as the latter emerges from a denser ejected material. Assuming that we the observers are located {bf at a viewing angle of $sim 0.2$ radians from the emitting material (perhaps slightly more from jet axis)}, we suggest that the Lorentz factor of the jet is $lesssim 20$ at the time of the prompt emission, and that, as suggested previously, it is accelerated to much higher values before finally decelerating during the afterglow phase. A less extreme example of a short GRB being observed off axis may have been GRB 150101b (Fong, et al., 2016). A feature of GRBs viewed from large offset angles is a large afterglow isotropic equivalent energy as compared to prompt emission, as predicted (Eichler, 2017), and this is born out by the observations of these two GRB. It is also shown that the prompt emission of GRB 170817A, if seen way off-axis ($theta gg 1/Gamma $), could not be made by internal shocks in the baryonic material that powers the afterglow.
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The jet breaks in the afterglow lightcurves of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs), rarely detected so far, are crucial for estimating the half-opening angles of the ejecta ($theta_{rm j}$) and hence the neutron star merger rate. In this work we report the detection of jet decline behaviors in GRB 150424A and GRB 160821B and find $theta_{rm j}sim 0.1$ rad. Together with five events reported before 2015 and other three identified recently (GRB 050709, GRB 060614 and GRB 140903A), we have a sample consisting of nine SGRBs and one long-short GRB with reasonably estimated $theta_{rm j}$. In particular, three {it Swift} bursts in the sample have redshifts $zleq 0.2$, with which we estimate the local neutron star merger rate density {to be $sim 1109^{+1432}_{-657}~{rm Gpc^{-3}~yr^{-1}}$ or $162^{+140}_{-83} {rm Gpc^{-3}yr^{-1}}$ if the narrowly-beamed GRB 061201 is excluded}. Inspired by the typical $theta_{rm j}sim 0.1$ rad found currently, we further investigate whether the off-beam GRBs (in the uniform jet model) or the off-axis events (in the structured jet model) can significantly enhance the GRB/GW association or not. For the former the enhancement is at most moderate, while for the latter the enhancement can be much greater and a high GRB/GW association probability of $sim 10%$ is possible. We also show that the data of GRB 160821B may contain a macronova/kilonova emission component with a temperature of $sim 3100$ K at $sim 3.6$ days after the burst and more data are needed to ultimately clarify.
We present the results of numerical simulations of the prompt emission of short-duration gamma-ray bursts. We consider emission from the relativistic jet, the mildly relativistic cocoon, and the non-relativistic shocked ambient material. We find that the cocoon material is confined between off-axis angles 15<theta<45 degrees and gives origin to X-ray transients with a duration of a few to ~10 seconds, delayed by a few seconds from the time of the merger. We also discuss the distance at which such transients can be detected, finding that it depends sensitively on the assumptions that are made about the radiation spectrum. Purely thermal cocoon transients are detectable only out to a few Mpc, Comptonized transients can instead be detected by the FERMI GBM out to several tens of Mpc.
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.
Many decades of observations of active galactic nuclei and X-ray binaries have shown that relativistic jets are ubiquitous when compact objects accrete. One could therefore anticipate the launch of a jet after a star is disrupted and accreted by a massive black hole. This birth of a relativistic jet may have been observed recently in two stellar tidal disruption flares (TDFs), which were discovered in gamma-rays by Swift. Yet no transient radio emission has been detected from the tens of TDF candidates that were discovered at optical to soft X-ray frequencies. Because the sample that was followed-up at radio frequencies is small, the non-detections can be explained by Doppler boosting, which reduces the jet flux for off-axis observers. And since the existing follow-up observation are mostly within ~10 months of the discovery, the non-detections can also be due to a delay of the radio emission with respect to the time of disruption. To test the conjecture that all TDFs launch jets, we obtained 5 GHz follow-up observations with the Jansky VLA of seven known TDFs. To avoid missing delayed jet emission, our observations probe 1-8 years since the estimated time of disruption. None of the sources are detected, with very deep upper limits at the 10 micro Jansky level. These observations rule out the hypothesis that these TDFs launched jets similar to radio-loud quasars. We also constrain the possibility that the flares hosted a jet identical to Sw 1644+57, the first and best-sampled relativistic TDF. We thus obtain evidence for a dichotomy in the stellar tidal disruption population, implying that the jet launching mechanism is sensitive to the parameters of the disruption.
If gamma-ray burst prompt emission originates at a typical radius, and if material producing the emission moves at relativistic speed, then the variability of the resulting light curve depends on the viewing angle. This is due to the fact that the pulse evolution time scale is Doppler contracted, while the pulse separation is not. For off-axis viewing angles $theta_{rm view} gtrsim theta_{rm jet} + Gamma^{-1}$, the pulse broadening significantly smears out the light curve variability. This is largely independent of geometry and emission processes. To explore a specific case, we set up a simple model of a single pulse under the assumption that the pulse rise and decay are dominated by the shell curvature effect. We show that such a pulse observed off-axis is (i) broader, (ii) softer and (iii) displays a different hardness-intensity correlation with respect to the same pulse seen on-axis. For each of these effects, we provide an intuitive physical explanation. We then show how a synthetic light curve made by a superposition of pulses changes with increasing viewing angle. We find that a highly variable light curve, (as seen on-axis) becomes smooth and apparently single-pulsed (when seen off-axis) because of pulse overlap. To test the relevance of this fact, we estimate the fraction of off-axis gamma-ray bursts detectable by textit{Swift} as a function of redshift, finding that a sizable fraction (between 10% and 80%) of nearby ($z<0.1$) bursts are observed with $theta_{rm view} gtrsim theta_{rm jet} + Gamma^{-1}$. Based on these results, we argue that low luminosity gamma-ray bursts are consistent with being ordinary bursts seen off-axis.
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