Synchrotron emission models for gamma ray burst sources, determination of the adiabatic shocks on magnetic white dwarfs

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:6103665

Brainerd, J J

The validity of using classical electrodynamics to calculate emission from a relativistic plasma in a strong magnetic field is examined. The radiative transfer equations are derived for a plasma that has an index of refraction close to one. Solutions are derived for the special case of a thermal plasma in a uniform magnetic field and temperature, with the effect of pairs included. Special attention is paid to the behavior of the polarization. Synchrotron emission is explored as an emission mechanism for gamma-ray bursts. The synchrotron emissivity is calculated for steady-state thermal and power-law particle distributions. The momentum loss of a photon cooling through synchrotron emission is calculated. These results are used to calculate the synchrotron emissivity from a cooling collisionless plasma with continuous injection of particles. Linearly polarized cyclotron emission from 10 AM Herculis binaries is used to derive their orientations. These orientations are inconsistent with a random distribution of orientations, as are the observed self-eclipse durations. A theory of nonadiabatic cyclotron-cooled shocks is developed. This type of shock should occur when cyclotron emission is efficient enough to keep the electron temperature low and make the time scale for energy transfer between ions and electrons is much shorter than the ion thermalization time scale. This suggests an explanation of why AM Herculis binaries do not have magnetic field strengths greater than 3 x 10/sup 7/ G.

• Research Organization: Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6103665
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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