GeV emission from Gamma-Ray Burst afterglows
arXiv:0712.1536 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.12950.x
Abstract
We calculate the GeV afterglow emission expected from a few mechanisms related to GRBs and their afterglows. Given the brightness of the early X-ray afterglow emission measured by Swift/XRT, GLAST/LAT should detect the self-Compton emission from the forward-shock driven by the GRB ejecta into the circumburst medium. Novel features discovered by Swift in X-ray afterglows (plateaus and chromatic light-curve breaks) indicate the existence of a pair-enriched, relativistic outflow located behind the forward shock. Bulk and inverse-Compton upscattering of the prompt GRB emission by such outflows provide another source of GeV afterglow emission detectable by LAT. The large-angle burst emission and synchrotron forward-shock emission are, most likely, too dim at high photon energy to be observed by LAT. The spectral slope of the high-energy afterglow emission and its decay rate (if it can be measured) allow the identification of the mechanism producing the GeV transient emission following GRBs.
8 pages, accepted by MNRAS
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