Gamma-Ray Bursts

Abstract

Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are short and intense bursts of $\sim$100 keV$-$1MeV photons, usually followed by long-lasting decaying afterglow emission in a wide range of electromagnetic wavelengths from radio to X-ray and, sometimes, even to GeV gamma-rays. These emissions are believed to originate from a relativistic jet, which is driven due to the collapse of special massive stars and the mergers of compact binaries (i.e., double neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole). This chapter first briefly introduces the basic observational facts of the GRB phenomena, including the prompt emission, afterglow emission, and host galaxies. Secondly, a general theoretical understanding of the GRB phenomena is described based on a relativistic jet's overall dynamical evolution, including the acceleration, propagation, internal dissipation, and deceleration phases. Here a long-lasting central engine of the GRBs can substantially influence the dynamical evolution of the jet. In addition, a supernova/kilonova emission can appear in the optical afterglow of some nearby GRBs, which can provide an important probe to the nature of the GRB progenitors. Finally, as luminous cosmological phenomena, it is expected to use GRBs to probe the early universe and to constrain the cosmological parameters.

35 pages, 10 figures; Invited chapter for Handbook of X-ray and Gamma-ray Astrophysics (Eds. C. Bambi and A. Santangelo, Springer Singapore, expected in 2022)

References in corpus (19)

• GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
• Gravitational Waves and Gamma-rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A
• Long gamma-ray bursts and core-collapse supernovae have different environments
• Light Curves of the Neutron Star Merger GW170817/SSS17a: Implications for R-Process Nucleosynthesis
• The Internal-Collision-Induced Magnetic Reconnection and Turbulence (ICMART) Model of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Optical emission from a kilonova following a gravitational-wave-detected neutron-star merger
• X-Ray Flares from Postmerger Millisecond Pulsars
• Measured Metallicities at the Sites of Nearby Broad-Lined Type Ic Supernovae and Implications for the SN-GRB Connection
• A Comprehensive Analysis of the Swift/XRT Data: II. Diverse Physical Origins of the Shallow Decay Segment
• A Comprehensive Analysis of Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Data. I. Spectral Components and Their Possible Physical Origins of LAT/GBM GRBs
• The First Survey of X-ray Flares from Gamma Ray Bursts Observed by Swift: Temporal Properties and Morphology
• A time - luminosity correlation for Gamma Ray Bursts in the X - rays
• A comprehensive analysis of Swift/XRT data: I. Apparent spectral evolution of GRB X-ray tails
• A Comprehensive Analysis of Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Data: II. $E_{\mathrm{p}}$-Evolution Patterns and Implications for the Observed Spectrum-Luminosity Relations
• Star Formation History up to z = 7.4: Implications for Gamma-Ray Bursts and the Cosmic Metallicity Evolution
• GRB 080503 late afterglow re-brightening: signature of a magnetar powered merger-nova
• Synchrotron emission in small scale magnetic field as possible explanation for prompt emission spectra of gamma-ray bursts
• Internal Energy Dissipation of Gamma-Ray Bursts Observed with Swift: Precursors, Prompt Gamma-rays, Extended emission and Late X-ray Flares
• The role of newly born magnetars in gamma-ray burst X-ray afterglow emission: Energy injection and internal emission

Cited by in corpus (11)

• The population of tidal disruption events discovered with eROSITA
• The curious case of EP241021a: Unraveling the mystery of its exceptional rebrightening
• eRO-ExTra: eROSITA extragalactic non-AGN X-ray transients and variables in eRASS1 and eRASS2
• Variable structures in the stellar wind of the HMXB Vela X-1
• Multiwavelength Radiation from the Interaction between Magnetar Bursts and Companion Star in a Binary System
• Constraint on Lorentz Invariance Violation for spectral lag transition in GRB 160625B using profile likelihood
• Accretion Flares from Stellar Collisions in Galactic Nuclei
• Cosmological Evolution of Gamma Ray Bursts
• 3D Localization of FRB 20190425A for Its Potential Host Galaxy and Implications
• The most distant optically polarised GRB afterglow: GRB 240419A at z = 5.178
• $\gamma$ rays run on time