Synchrotron Radiation as the Source of GRB Spectra, Part I: Theory

Abstract

We investigate synchrotron emission models as the source of gamma ray burst spectra. We show that allowing for synchrotron self absorption and a ``smooth cutoff'' to the electron energy distribution produces a wide range of low energy spectral behavior. We show that there exists a correlation between the value of the peak of the $\nu F_{\nu }$ spectrum, $E_p$, and the low energy spectral index $\alpha$ as determined by spectral fits over a finite bandwidth. Finally, we discuss the implications of synchrotron emission from internal shocks for GRB spectral evolution.

arXiv commentTo appear in the proceedings of the 5th Huntsville Symposium on Gamma Ray Bursts