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Physical Processes Shaping Gamma‐Ray Burst X‐Ray Afterglow Light Curves: Theoretical Implications from the Swift X‐Ray Telescope Observations
Open accessAbstract
With the successful launch of the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer, a rich trove of early X-ray afterglow data has been collected by its onboard X-Ray Telescope (XRT). Some interesting features are emerging, including a distinct rapidly decaying component preceding the conventional afterglow component in many sources, a shallow decay component before the more "normal" decay component observed in a good fraction of GRBs, and X-ray flares in nearly half of the afterglows. In this paper we systematically analyze the possible physical processes that shape the properties of the early X-ray afterglow light curves and use the data to constrain various models. We suggest that the steep decay component is consistent with the tail emission of the prompt gamma-ray bursts and/or the X-ray flares. This provides strong evidence that the prompt emission and afterglow emission are likely two distinct components, supporting the internal origin of the GRB prompt emission. The shallow decay segment observed in a group of GRBs suggests that very likely the forward shock keeps being refreshed for some time. This might be caused by either a long-lived central engine, or a wide distribution of the shell Lorentz factors, or else possibly the deceleration of a Poynting flux-dominated flow. X-ray flares suggest that the GRB central engine is very likely still active after the prompt gamma-ray emission is over, but with a reduced activity at later times. In some cases, the central engine activity even extends to days after the burst triggers. Analyses of early X-ray afterglow data reveal that GRBs are indeed highly relativistic events and that early afterglow data of many bursts, starting from the beginning of the XRT observations, are consistent with the afterglow emission from an ISM environment.
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“Detection and measurement of gamma-ray burst afterglows and transients ( e.g., Zhang & Mészáros 2004; Zhang et al. 2006; Kann et al. 2010 ) to high redshift ( ∼ 7.5 )”
From LSST: From Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products (2019) · cites this paper as Zhang et al. 2006
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Self-citationSpectra and Light Curves of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
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BackgroundSelf-citationOptical and Long‐Wavelength Afterglow from Gamma‐Ray Bursts
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BackgroundSpectra and Light Curves of Gamma-Ray Burst AfterglowsPreprint
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BackgroundRelativistic fireballs: energy conversion and time-scales
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BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citation
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
LSST: From Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products
Ivezić, Ž., Kahn, S. M., Tyson, J. A., Abel, B., Acosta, E., Allsman, R., Alonso, D., AlSayyad, Y., Anderson, S. F., Andrew, J., et al. (2019) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab042c · Cited by 4,357
“There are many projects that LSST data products will enable: • Detection and measurement of gamma-ray burst afterglows and transients (e.g., Zhang & Mészáros 2004; Zhang et al. 2006; Kann et al. 2010) to high redshift (∼7.5).”
BackgroundInfluentialMethods and results of an automatic analysis of a complete sample of Swift -XRT observations of GRBs
Evans, P. A., Beardmore, A. P., Page, K. L., Osborne, J. P., O'Brien, P. T., Willingale, R., Starling, R. L. C., Burrows, D. N., Godet, O., Vetere, L., et al. (2009) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14913.x · Cited by 1,805
Self-citationThe physics of gamma-ray bursts & relativistic jets
Kumar, P., & Zhang, B. (2014) · Physics Reports · doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2014.09.008 · Cited by 1,042
“…simply the high latitude emission (described in §2.1) associated with the prompt γ-ray source at R >∼ 1015cm when the central engine turns off faster than the decline of the X-ray lightcurve (Kumar and Panaitescu, 2000a; Dermer, 2004; Zhang et al., 2006; Nousek et al., 2006; Liang et al., 2006a).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationEvidence for a Canonical Gamma‐Ray Burst Afterglow Light Curve in the Swift XRT Data
Nousek, J. A., Kouveliotou, C., Grupe, D., Page, K. L., Granot, J., Ramirez-Ruiz, E., Patel, S., Burrows, D. N., Mangano, V., Barthelmy, S. D., et al. (2006) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/500724 · Cited by 886
Self-citationZhang, B., & Yan, H. (2010) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/726/2/90 · Cited by 823
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Zhang, B., Fan, Y. Z., Dyks, J., Kobayashi, S., Meszaros, P., Burrows, D. N., Nousek, J. A., & Gehrels, N.
- Affiliations
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2006-05
- Volume
- 642
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 354-370
- ISSN
- 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4357
- OpenAlex
- W2078391322
- Cited by
- 1,079
- References
- 155
- Citations by year
- 2026: 46 · 2025: 67 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 51 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 47 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 38 · 2016: 52 · 2015: 51 · 2014: 50 · 2013: 52 · 2012: 47
- FWCI
- 51.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0114375, 0307376)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NAS5-00136)
- University of Pennsylvania
- Pennsylvania State University (NAS5-00136)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
- Keywords
- gamma-ray bursts, X-ray afterglow, afterglow light curves, Swift X-ray Telescope, X-ray flares, prompt gamma-ray emission, central engine, forward shock, relativistic outflows, Poynting flux, interstellar medium, afterglow decay
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