A UNIFIED MODEL FOR GRB PROMPT EMISSION FROM OPTICAL TO γ -RAYS; EXPLORING GRBs AS STANDARD CANDLES
- Department of Physics, The George Washington University, 725 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20052 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 (United States)
- Department of Natural Sciences, The Open University of Israel, 1 University Road, P.O. Box 808, Raanana 4353701 (Israel)
- Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8582 (Japan)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Department of Physics, Center for Particle and Gravitational Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
The origin of prompt emission from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) remains to be an open question. Correlated prompt optical and γ -ray emission observed in a handful of GRBs strongly suggests a common emission region, but failure to adequately fit the broadband GRB spectrum prompted the hypothesis of different emission mechanisms for the low- and high-energy radiations. We demonstrate that our multi-component model for GRB γ -ray prompt emission provides an excellent fit to GRB 110205A from optical to γ -ray energies. Our results show that the optical and highest γ -ray emissions have the same spatial and spectral origin, which is different from the bulk of the X- and softest γ -ray radiation. Finally, our accurate redshift estimate for GRB 110205A demonstrates promise for using GRBs as cosmological standard candles.
- OSTI ID:
- 22654170
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 831, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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