THE INTERNAL-COLLISION-INDUCED MAGNETIC RECONNECTION AND TURBULENCE (ICMART) MODEL OF GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

Abstract

The recent Fermi observation of GRB 080916C shows that the bright photosphere emission associated with a putative fireball is missing, which suggests that the central engine likely launches a Poynting-flux-dominated (PFD) outflow. We propose a model of gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission in the PFD regime, namely, the Internal-Collision-induced MAgnetic Reconnection and Turbulence (ICMART) model. It is envisaged that the GRB central engine launches an intermittent, magnetically dominated wind, and that in the GRB emission region, the ejecta is still moderately magnetized (e.g., 1 ≲ σ ≲ 100). Similar to the internal shock (IS) model, the mini-shells interact internally at the radius R IS ∼ Γ 2 c Δ t . Most of these early collisions, however, have little energy dissipation, but serve to distort the ordered magnetic field lines entrained in the ejecta. At a certain point, the distortion of magnetic field configuration reaches the critical condition to allow fast reconnection seeds to occur, which induce relativistic MHD turbulence in the interaction regions. The turbulence further distorts field lines easing additional magnetic reconnections, resulting in a runway release of the stored magnetic field energy (an ICMART event). Particles are accelerated either directly in the reconnection zone, or stochastically in the turbulent regions, which radiate synchrotron photons that power the observed gamma rays. Each ICMART event corresponds to a broad pulse in the GRB light curve, and a GRB is composed of multiple ICMART events. This model retains the merits of IS and other models, but may overcome several difficulties/issues faced by the IS model (e.g., low efficiency, fast cooling, electron number excess, Amati/Yonetoku relation inconsistency, and missing bright photosphere). Within this model, the observed GRB variability timescales could have two components, one slow component associated with the central engine time history, and another fast component associated with relativistic magnetic turbulence in the emission region. The model predicts a decrease of gamma-ray polarization degree and E p in each ICMART event (broad pulse) during the prompt GRB phase, as well as a moderately magnetized external reverse shock. The model may be applied to the GRBs that have time-resolved, featureless Band-function spectra, such as GRB 080916C and most GRBs detected by Fermi LAT.