MAGNETIZATION DEGREE OF GAMMA-RAY BURST FIREBALLS: NUMERICAL STUDY
- Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 5RF (United Kingdom)
The relative strength between forward and reverse shock emission in early gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow reflects that of magnetic energy densities in the two shock regions. We numerically show that with the current standard treatment, the fireball magnetization is underestimated by up to two orders of magnitude. This discrepancy is especially large in the sub-relativistic reverse shock regime (i.e., the thin shell and intermediate regime), where most optical flashes were detected. We provide new analytic estimates of the reverse shock emission based on a better shock approximation, which well describe numerical results in the intermediate regime. We show that the reverse shock temperature at the onset of afterglow is constant, ( {Gamma}-bar{sub d}-1){approx}8 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -2}, when the dimensionless parameter {xi}{sub 0} is more than several. Our approach is applied to case studies of GRB 990123 and 090102, and we find that magnetic fields in the fireballs are even stronger than previously believed. However, these events are still likely to be due to a baryonic jet with {sigma} {approx} 10{sup -3} for GRB 990123 and {approx}3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -4} to 3 for GRB 090102.
- OSTI ID:
- 22121807
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 772, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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