Probing the Structure of Gamma-Ray Burst Jets with Steep Decay Phase of their Early X-ray Afterglows

Details Probing the Structure of Gamma-Ray Burst Jets with Steep Decay Phase of their Early X-ray Afterglows Probing the Structure of Gamma-Ray Burst Jets with Steep Decay Phase of their Early X-ray Afterglows

2007-04-09

arxiv.org/abs/0704.1055v3

Astrophys.J.663:1118-1124,2007

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

21 pages, 10 figures, the paper with full resolution images is http://theo.phys.sci.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~takami/research/achieve

Scientific paper

10.1086/518763

We show that the jet structure of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can be investigated with the tail emission of the prompt GRB. The tail emission which we consider is identified as a steep-decay component of the early X-ray afterglow observed by the X-ray Telescope onboard Swift. Using a Monte Carlo method, we derive, for the first time, the distribution of the decay index of the GRB tail emission for various jet models. The new definitions of the zero of time and the time interval of a fitting region are proposed. These definitions for fitting the light curve lead us an unique definition of the decay index, which is useful to investigate the structure of the GRB jet. We find that if the GRB jet has a core-envelope structure, the predicted distribution of the decay index of the tail has a wide scatter and has multiple peaks, which cannot be seen for the case of the uniform and the Gaussian jet. Therefore, the decay index distribution tells us the information on the jet structure. Especially, if we observe events whose decay index is less than about 2, both the uniform and the Gaussian jet models will be disfavored according to our simulation study.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Probing the Structure of Gamma-Ray Burst Jets with Steep Decay Phase of their Early X-ray Afterglows does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Probing the Structure of Gamma-Ray Burst Jets with Steep Decay Phase of their Early X-ray Afterglows, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Probing the Structure of Gamma-Ray Burst Jets with Steep Decay Phase of their Early X-ray Afterglows will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-387048