Energy injection driven by precessing jets in gamma-ray burst afterglows

Abstract

Jet precession is considered to universally exist in different-scale astronomical phenomena, including gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). For the long-lived GRB central engine, the relativistical precessing jets will periodically inject kinetic energy into the external shocks, then significantly modulate the shapes of the light curves (LCs) in GRB afterglows. In this paper, we adopt the standard external shock model to investigate the effects of jet precession on GRB X-ray afterglows in cases with different parameters, i.e., the steady or time-dependent jet powers, precession periods, precession angles, and viewing angles. In the case where the jet powers are in steady or slow decay and the jet can sweep across the line of sight, shallow decay (or plateau) segments should appear; otherwise, a giant bump will emerge in the GRB afterglow LCs. We show that jet precession is a new plausible mechanism of the energy injection in GRBs. Moreover, some observed X-ray transients without GRB associations might be powered by the precessing jets.

11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (16)

• The Supernova -- Gamma-Ray Burst Connection
• The Dynamics and Afterglow Radiation of Gamma-Ray Bursts. I. Constant Density Medium
• On the Mechanism of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
• High Energy Afterglow from Gamma-ray Bursts
• A magnetar-powered X-ray transient as the aftermath of a binary neutron-star merger
• Discovery of oscillations above 200 keV in a black hole X-ray binary with Insight-HXMT
• Prior Emission Model for X-ray Plateau Phase of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
• Black hole hyperaccretion inflow-outflow model. I. long and ultra-long gamma-ray bursts
• Gravitational radiation from precessing accretion disks in gamma-ray bursts
• The Bright Reverse Shock Emission in the Optical Afterglows of Gamma-ray Bursts in a Stratified Medium
• Gamma-ray burst afterglows
• On the properties of a newborn magnetar powering the X-ray transient CDF-S XT2
• Comparison of gravitational waves from central engines of gamma-ray bursts: neutrino-dominated accretion flows, Blandford-Znajek mechanisms, and millisecond magnetars
• Variability of the giant X-ray bump in GRB 121027A and possible origin
• Jet Structure in the Afterglow Phase for Gamma-ray Bursts with a Precessing Jet
• GRB 110530A: Peculiar Broad Bump and Delayed Plateau in Early Optical Afterglows

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Low-frequency gravitational wave memory from gamma-ray burst afterglows with energy injection