Prompt GRB emission from gradual energy dissipation

Abstract

I calculate the emission expected from a Poynting-flux-dominated gamma-ray burst (GRB) flow in which energy is dissipated gradually by magnetic reconnection. In this picture, the energy of the radiating particles is determined by heating and cooling balance (slow heating model). Detailed radiative transfer calculations show that, at Thomson optical depths of order of unity, the dominant radiative process is inverse Compton scattering. Synchrotron-self-absorbed emission and inverse Compton dominate in the Thomson thin parts of the flow. The electrons stay thermal throughout the dissipation region because of Coulomb collisions (Thomson thick part of the flow) and exchange of synchrotron photons (Thomson thin part). The resulting spectrum naturally explains the observed sub-MeV break of the GRB emission and the spectral slopes above and below the break. The model predicts that the gamma-ray power-law tail has a high-energy cutoff typically in the ~0.1-1 GeV energy range that should be observable with {\it GLAST}. The model also predicts a prompt emission component in the optical and UV associated with the GeV emission. Observations of the prompt emission of GRB 061121 that cover the energy range from the optical to ~1 MeV are explained by the model.

9 pages, 3 figures, A&A, small changes to match the accepted Paper

References in corpus (2)

• Spectral and timing properties of a dissipative GRB photosphere
• Gamma Ray Bursts as Electromagnetic Outflows

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Discerning the physical origins of cosmological Gamma-ray bursts based on multiple observational criteria: the cases of z=6.7 GRB 080913, z=8.3 GRB 090423, and some short/hard GRBs
• Quasi-blackbody component and radiative efficiency of the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts
• Interpretation and implication of the non-detection of GeV spectrum excess by Fermi gamma-ray Space Telescope in most GRBs