Afterglow Light Curves from Impulsive Relativistic Jets with an Unconventional Structure

Technical Report · Tue Apr 12 04:00:00 EDT 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/839882· OSTI ID:839882

Granot, J ^[1]

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1. SLAC

The jet structure in gamma-ray burst (GRB) sources is still largely an open question. The leading models invoke either (i) a roughly uniform jet with sharp edges, or (ii) a jet with a narrow core and wide wings where the energy per solid angle drops as a power law with the angle {theta} from the jet symmetry axis. Recently, a two component jet model has also been considered, with a narrow uniform jet of initial Lorentz factor {Lambda}{sub 0} {approx}> 100 surrounded by a wider uniform jet with {Lambda}{sub 0} {approx} 10-30. Some models predict more exotic jet profiles, such as a thin uniform ring (i.e. the outflow is bounded by two concentric cones of half opening angle {theta}{sub c} and {theta}{sub c} + {Delta}{theta}, with {Delta}{theta} << {theta}{sub c}) or a fan (a thin outflow with {Delta}{theta} << 1 along the rotational equator, {theta}{sub c} = {pi}/2 + {Delta}{theta}/2). In this paper they calculate the expected afterglow light curves from such jet structures, using a simple formalism that is developed here for this purpose, and could also have other applications. These light curves are qualitatively compared to observations of GRB afterglows. It is shown that the two component jet model cannot produce sharp features in the afterglow model due to the deceleration of the wide jet or the narrow jet becoming visible at lines of sight outside of it. They find that a ''ring'' shaped jet or a ''fan'' shaped jet produce a jet break in the afterglow light curve that is too shallow compared to observations, where the change in the temporal decay index across the jet break is about half of that for a uniform conical jet. For a ''ring'' jet, the break is divided into two distinct and smaller breaks, the first occurring when {gamma}{Delta}{theta} {approx} 1-2 and the second when {gamma}{theta}{sub c} {approx} 1/2.

• Research Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA
• Sponsoring Organization: SC
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 839882
• Report Number(s): SLAC-PUB-11121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ACCELERATION
AFTERGLOW
BLOWERS
CONES
DECAY
EQUATOR
JET MODEL
OPENINGS
SYMMETRY