X-ray Spectral Diagnostics of Gamma-Ray Burst Environments

Abstract

Recently, the detection of discrete features in the X-ray afterglow spectra of GRB970508 and GRB970828 was reported. The most natural interpretation of these features is that they are redshifted Fe K emission complexes. The identification of the line emission mechanism has drastic implications for the inferred mass of radiating material, end hence the nature of the burst site. X-ray spectroscopy provides a direct observational constraint on these properties of gamma-ray bursters. We briefly discuss how these constraints arise, in the context of an application to the spectrum of GRB970508.

11 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

References in corpus (2)

• First Light Measurements of Capella with the Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer aboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory
• Early X-ray/UV Line Signatures of GRB Progenitors and Hypernovae

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• A Search for Discrete X-ray Spectral Features in a Sample of Bright Gamma-ray Burst Afterglows
• High Resolution Grating Spectroscopy of GRB 020405 with CHANDRA LETGS
• X-ray spectral features from GRBs: Predictions of progenitor models
• Precursor Plerionic Activity and High Energy Gamma-Ray Emission in the Supranova Model of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Reconsidering the origin of the X-ray emission lines in GRB 011211
• Possible geometries of afterglow generation in the gamma-ray burst GRB990705