Properties of the Prompt Optical Counterpart Arising from the Cooling of Electrons in Gamma-Ray Bursts
Abstract
This work extends a contemporaneous effort to study the properties of the lower-energy counterpart synchrotron emission produced by the cooling of relativistic gamma-ray burst (GRB) electrons through radiation (synchrotron and self-Compton) emission and adiabatic losses. We derive the major characteristics (pulse duration, lag time after burst, and brightness relative to the burst) of the prompt optical counterpart (POC) occurring during or after the GRB. Depending on the magnetic field lifetime, duration of electron injection, and electron transit time Δto from hard X-ray (GRB) to optical-emitting energies, a POC may appear during the GRB pulse (of duration δtγ) or after (delayed OC). The signature of counterparts arising from the cooling of GRB electrons is that POC pulses (Δto < δtγ) last as long as the corresponding GRB pulse (δto ≃ δtγ), while delayed OC pulses (Δto > δtγ) last as long as the transit time (δto ≃ Δto). If OC variability can be measured, then another signature for this OC mechanism is that the GRB variability is passed on to POCs but not to delayed OCs. Within the GRB electron cooling model for counterparts, POCs should be on average dimmer than delayed ones (consistent with the data), and harder GRB low-energymore »
- Authors:
-
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1897443
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-22-28294
Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X; TRN: US2310791
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 938; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
- Publisher:
- IOP Publishing
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; gamma-ray bursts; non-thermal radiation sources; radiative processes; plasma astrophysics
Citation Formats
Panaitescu, Alin-Daniel, and Vestrand, W. Thomas. Properties of the Prompt Optical Counterpart Arising from the Cooling of Electrons in Gamma-Ray Bursts. United States: N. p., 2022.
Web. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac9315.
Panaitescu, Alin-Daniel, & Vestrand, W. Thomas. Properties of the Prompt Optical Counterpart Arising from the Cooling of Electrons in Gamma-Ray Bursts. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac9315
Panaitescu, Alin-Daniel, and Vestrand, W. Thomas. Mon .
"Properties of the Prompt Optical Counterpart Arising from the Cooling of Electrons in Gamma-Ray Bursts". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac9315. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1897443.
@article{osti_1897443,
title = {Properties of the Prompt Optical Counterpart Arising from the Cooling of Electrons in Gamma-Ray Bursts},
author = {Panaitescu, Alin-Daniel and Vestrand, W. Thomas},
abstractNote = {This work extends a contemporaneous effort to study the properties of the lower-energy counterpart synchrotron emission produced by the cooling of relativistic gamma-ray burst (GRB) electrons through radiation (synchrotron and self-Compton) emission and adiabatic losses. We derive the major characteristics (pulse duration, lag time after burst, and brightness relative to the burst) of the prompt optical counterpart (POC) occurring during or after the GRB. Depending on the magnetic field lifetime, duration of electron injection, and electron transit time Δto from hard X-ray (GRB) to optical-emitting energies, a POC may appear during the GRB pulse (of duration δtγ) or after (delayed OC). The signature of counterparts arising from the cooling of GRB electrons is that POC pulses (Δto < δtγ) last as long as the corresponding GRB pulse (δto ≃ δtγ), while delayed OC pulses (Δto > δtγ) last as long as the transit time (δto ≃ Δto). If OC variability can be measured, then another signature for this OC mechanism is that the GRB variability is passed on to POCs but not to delayed OCs. Within the GRB electron cooling model for counterparts, POCs should be on average dimmer than delayed ones (consistent with the data), and harder GRB low-energy slopes βLE should be associated more often with the dimmer POCs. The latter sets an observational bias against detecting POCs from (the cooling of electrons in) GRBs with a hard slope βLE, making it more likely that the detected POCs of such bursts arise from another mechanism.},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ac9315},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
number = 2,
volume = 938,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 24 00:00:00 EDT 2022},
month = {Mon Oct 24 00:00:00 EDT 2022}
}
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