Gamma-ray burst afterglows from jetted shocks in wind environments

Abstract

Gamma-ray bursts with long durations are widely thought to arise from the collapse of massive stars, where the wind environment is unavoidable. It is also believed that $\gamma$-ray bursts come from jets. Considering these two points in this paper, we calculate the evolution of a highly collimated jet that expands in a stellar wind environment and the expected afterglow from such a jet. We use a set of refined dynamical equations and a realistic lateral speed of the jet, and find: (1) There is no observable break at the time when the Lorentz factor of the jet is equal to the inverse of its initial half-opening angle. (2) No obvious break appears at the time when the blast wave transits from the relativistic to the non-relativistic phase. (3) For the wind case, there is no flattening tendency even up to $10^9$ s. (4) Compared with the homogeneous medium case, our calculated flux is weaker in the stellar wind case. Finally, we find that two kinds of GRB models (neutron star mergers and massive star collapses) may be discriminated in our numerical results.

7 pages, 5 embedded ps figures, A&A in press

References in corpus (27)

• Jets in GRBs
• The Dynamics and Light Curves of Beamed Gamma Ray Burst Afterglows
• Wind Interaction Models for Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows: The Case for Two Types of Progenitors
• The unusual afterglow of GRB 980326: evidence for the gamma-ray burst/supernova connection
• Formation Rates of Black Hole Accretion Disk Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Gamma-Ray Burst Environments and Progenitors
• Optical and Radio Observations of the Afterglow from GRB990510: Evidence for a Jet
• Overall Evolution of Jetted Gamma-ray Burst Ejecta
• A 450-day light curve of the radio afterglow of GRB 970508: Fireball calorimetry
• A Generic Dynamical Model of Gamma-ray Burst Remnants
• Linear Polarization and Proper Motion in The Afterglow of Beamed GRBs
• GRB 970228 Revisited: Evidence for a Supernova in the Light Curve and La te Spectral Energy Distribution of the Afterglow
• Evidence for a supernova in reanalyzed optical and near-infrared images of GRB970228
• BVRI Observations of the Optical Afterglow of GRB 990510
• Particle acceleration and relativistic shocks
• Steepening of Afterglow Decay for Jets Interacting with Stratified Media
• On Beaming Effects in Afterglow Light Curves
• SN1997cy/GRB970514 - A New Piece in the GRB Puzzle?
• The properties of Supernova 1997cy associated to GRB970514
• The Afterglow of GRB 990123 and a Dense Medium
• On the Optical Light Curves of Afterglows from Jetted Gamma-ray Burst Ejecta: Effects of Parameters
• Towards a Model for the Progenitors of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Strongly Polarized Optical Afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• The Radio Afterglow From GRB 980519: A Test of the Jet and Circumstellar Models
• Environment and Energy Injection Effects in GRB Afterglows
• Overall Evolution of Realistic Gamma-ray Burst Remnant and Its Afterglow
• Can the jet steepen the light curves of GRB afterglow?

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Physical processes shaping GRB X-ray afterglow lightcurves: theoretical implications from the Swift XRT observations
• Gamma-Ray Bursts: Progress, Problems & Prospects
• A Comprehensive Analysis of the Swift/XRT Data: II. Diverse Physical Origins of the Shallow Decay Segment
• Early Optical Afterglows from Wind-Type Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Optical Flashes and Very Early Afterglows in Wind Environments
• The Inverse Compton Emission Spectra in the Very Early Afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• GRB Afterglows from Anisotropic Jets
• Relative space-time transformations in GRBs
• Modeling GRB 050904: Autopsy of a Massive Stellar Explosion at z=6.29
• Afterglow Light Curves of Jetted Gamma-ray Burst Ejecta in Stellar Winds
• On the structure of the burst and afterglow of Gamma-Ray Bursts I: the radial approximation
• On the afterglow from the receding jet of gamma-ray burst
• Overall Temporal Synchrotron Emissions from Relativistic Jets: Adiabatic and Radiative Breaks
• A method for determination of gamma-ray direction in space
• Dynamical Evolution of Gamma-Ray Burst Remnants with Evolving Radiative Efficiency
• Beaming Effects in Gamma-Ray Bursts