We present predictions of centimeter and millimeter radio emission from reverse shocks in the early afterglows of gamma-ray bursts with the goal of determining their detectability with current and future radio facilities. Using a range of GRB propert
ies, such as peak optical brightness and time, isotropic equivalent gamma-ray energy and redshift, we simulate radio light curves in a framework generalized for any circumburst medium structure and including a parametrization of the shell thickness regime that is more realistic than the simple assumption of thick- or thin-shell approximations. Building on earlier work by Mundell et al. (2007) and Melandri et al. (2010) in which the typical frequency of the reverse shock was suggested to lie at radio, rather than optical wavelengths at early times, we show that the brightest and most distinct reverse-shock radio signatures are detectable up to 0.1 -- 1 day after the burst, emphasizing the need for rapid radio follow-up. Detection is easier for bursts with later optical peaks, high isotropic energies, lower circumburst medium densities, and at observing frequencies that are less prone to synchrotron self-absorption effects - typically above a few GHz. Given recent detections of polarized prompt gamma-ray and optical reverse-shock emission, we suggest that detection of polarized radio/mm emission will unambiguously confirm the presence of low-frequency reverse shocks at early time.
We use a parent sample of 118 gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows, with known redshift and host galaxy extinction, to separate afterglows with and without signatures of dominant reverse-shock emission and to determine which physical conditions lead to a
prominent reverse-shock emission. We identify 10 GRBs with reverse shock signatures - GRBs 990123, 021004, 021211, 060908, 061126, 080319B, 081007, 090102, 090424 and 130427A. By modeling their optical afterglows with reverse and forward shock analytic light curves and using Monte Carlo simulations, we estimate the parameter space of the physical quantities describing the ejecta and circumburst medium. We find that physical properties cover a wide parameter space and do not seem to cluster around any preferential values. Comparing the rest-frame optical, X-ray and high-energy properties of the larger sample of non-RS-dominated GRBs, we show that the early-time ($<$ 1ks) optical spectral luminosity, X-ray afterglow luminosity and $gamma$-ray energy output of our reverse-shock dominated sample do not differ significantly from the general population at early times. However, the GRBs with dominant reverse shock emission have fainter than average optical forward-shock emission at late time ($>$ 10 ks). We find that GRBs with an identifiable reverse shock component show high magnetization parameter $R_{mathrm{B}} = varepsilon_{rm B,r}/varepsilon_{rm B,f} sim 2 - 10^4$. Our results are in agreement with the mildly magnetized baryonic jet model of GRBs.
We report the detection of a faint optical flash by the 2-m Faulkes Telescope North simultaneously with the second of two prompt gamma-ray pulses in INTEGRAL gamma-ray burst (GRB) 080603A, beginning at t_rest = 37 s after the onset of the GRB. This o
ptical flash appears to be distinct from the subsequent emerging afterglow emission, for which we present comprehensive broadband radio to X-ray light curves to 13 days post-burst and rigorously test the standard fireball model. The intrinsic extinction toward GRB 080603A is high (A_V,z = 0.8 mag), and the well-sampled X-ray-to-near-infrared spectral energy distribution is interesting in requiring an LMC2 extinction profile, in contrast to the majority of GRBs. Comparison of the gamma-ray and extinction-corrected optical flux densities of the flash rules out an inverse-Compton origin for the prompt gamma-rays; instead, we suggest that the optical flash could originate from the inhomogeneity of the relativistic flow. In this scenario, a large velocity irregularity in the flow produces the prompt gamma-rays, followed by a milder internal shock at a larger radius that would cause the optical flash. Flat gamma-ray spectra, roughly F propto nu^-0.1, are observed in many GRBs. If the flat spectrum extends down to the optical band in GRB 080603A, the optical flare could be explained as the low-energy tail of the gamma-ray emission. If this is indeed the case, it provides an important clue to understanding the nature of the emission process in the prompt phase of GRBs and highlights the importance of deep (R> 20 mag), rapid follow-up observations capable of detecting faint, prompt optical emission.
We use a sample of 19 Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) that exhibit single-peaked optical light curves to test the standard fireball model by investigating the relationship between the time of the onset of the afterglow and the temporal rising index. Our samp
le includes GRBs and X-ray flashes for which we derive a wide range of initial Lorentz factors ($40 < Gamma < 450$). Using plausible model parameters the typical frequency of the forward shock is expected to lie close to the optical band; within this low typical frequency framework, we use the optical data to constrain $epsilon_e$ and show that values derived from the early time light curve properties are consistent with published typical values derived from other afterglow studies. We produce expected radio light curves by predicting the temporal evolution of the expected radio emission from forward and reverse shock components, including synchrotron self-absorption effects at early time. Although a number of the GRBs in this sample do not have published radio measurements, we demonstrate the effectiveness of this method in the case of {it Swift} GRB 090313, for which millimetric and centrimetric observations were available, and conclude that future detections of reverse-shock radio flares with new radio facilities such as the EVLA and ALMA will test the low frequency model and provide constraints on magnetic models.
X-ray flashes (XRFs) are a class of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with the peak energy of the time-integrated spectrum, Ep, below 30 keV, whereas classical GRBs have Ep of a few hundreds keV. Apart from Ep and the lower luminosity, the properties of XRFs a
re typical of the classical GRBs. Yet, the nature of XRFs and the differences from that of GRBs are not understood. In addition, there is no consensus on the interpretation of the shallow decay phase observed in most X-ray afterglows of both XRFs and GRBs. We examine in detail the case of XRF 080330 discovered by Swift at the redshift of 1.51. This burst is representative of the XRF class and exhibits an X-ray shallow decay. The rich and broadband (from NIR to UV) photometric data set we collected across this phase makes it an ideal candidate to test the off-axis jet interpretation proposed to explain both the softness of XRFs and the shallow decay phase. We present prompt gamma-ray, early and late IR/visible/UV and X-ray observations of the XRF 080330. We derive a SED from NIR to X-ray bands across the plateau phase with a power-law index of 0.79 +- 0.01 and negligible rest-frame dust extinction. The multi-wavelength evolution of the afterglow is achromatic from ~10^2 s out to ~8x10^4 s. We describe the temporal evolution of the multi-wavelength afterglow within the context of the standard afterglow model and show that a single-component jet viewed off-axis explains the observations (abriged).
