The physics of gamma-ray bursts & relativistic jets

We provide a comprehensive review of major developments in our understanding of gamma-ray bursts, with particular focus on the discoveries made within the last fifteen years when their true nature was uncovered. We describe the observational properties of photons from the radio to multi-GeV bands, both in the prompt emission and the afterglow phases. Mechanisms for the generation of these photons in GRBs are discussed and confronted with observations to shed light on the physical properties of these explosions, their progenitor stars and the surrounding medium. After presenting observational evidence that a powerful, collimated, jet moving at close to the speed of light is produced in these explosions, we describe our current understanding regarding the generation, acceleration, and dissipation of the jet and compare these properties with jets associated with AGNs and pulsars. We discuss mounting observational evidence that long duration GRBs are produced when massive stars die, and that at least some short duration bursts are associated with old, roughly solar mass, compact stars. The question of whether a black-hole or a strongly magnetized, rapidly rotating neutron star is produced in these explosions is also discussed. We provide a brief summary of what we have learned about relativistic collisionless shocks and particle acceleration from GRB afterglow studies, and discuss the current understanding of radiation mechanism during the prompt emission phase. We discuss theoretical predictions of possible high-energy neutrino emission from GRBs and the current observational constraints. Finally, we discuss how these explosions may be used to study cosmology, e.g. star formation, metal enrichment, reionization history, as well as the formation of first stars and galaxies in the universe.

/pdf/the-physics-of-gamma-ray-bursts-and-relativistic-jets-571z4a98ye.pdf

The Physics of Gamma-Ray Bursts and Relativistic Jets

We present the Ly{alpha} luminosity function (LF), clustering measurements, and Ly{alpha} line profiles based on the largest sample to date of 207 Ly{alpha} emitters (LAEs) at z = 6.6 on the 1 deg{sup 2} sky of Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey field. Our z = 6.6 Ly{alpha} LF including cosmic variance estimates yields the best-fit Schechter parameters of {phi}* = 8.5{sup +3.0}{sub -2.2} x 10{sup -4} Mpc{sup -3} and L*{sub Ly{alpha}} = 4.4{sup +0.6}{sub -0.6} x 10{sup 42} erg s{sup -1} with a fixed {alpha} = -1.5, and indicates a decrease from z = 5.7 at the {approx}>90% confidence level. However, this decrease is not large, only {approx_equal}30% in Ly{alpha} luminosity, which is too small to have been identified in the previous studies. A clustering signal of z = 6.6 LAEs is detected for the first time. We obtain the correlation length of r{sub 0}= 2-5 h {sup -1}{sub 100} Mpc and a bias of b= 3-6, and find no significant boost of clustering amplitude by reionization at z = 6.6. The average hosting dark halo mass inferred from clustering is 10{sup 10}-10{sup 11} M{sub sun}, and a duty cycle of LAE population is roughly {approx}1%, albeit with large uncertainties. The averagemore » of our high-quality Keck/DEIMOS spectra shows an FWHM velocity width of 251 {+-} 16 km s{sup -1}. We find no large evolution of the Ly{alpha} line profile from z = 5.7 to 6.6, and no anti-correlation between Ly{alpha} luminosity and line width at z = 6.6. The combination of various reionization models and our observational results about the LF, clustering, and line profile indicates that there would exist a small decrease of the intergalactic medium's (IGM's) Ly{alpha} transmission owing to reionization, but that the hydrogen IGM is not highly neutral at z = 6.6. Our neutral-hydrogen fraction constraint implies that the major reionization process took place at z {approx}> 7.« less

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/723/1/869/pdf

STATISTICS OF 207 Lyα EMITTERS AT A REDSHIFT NEAR 7: CONSTRAINTS ON REIONIZATION AND GALAXY FORMATION MODELS*

Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are thought to result from the explosions of certain massive stars(1), and some are bright enough that they should be observable out to redshifts of z > 20 using current technology(2-4). Hitherto, the highest redshift measured for any object was z = 6.96, for a Lyman-alpha emitting galaxy(5). Here we report that GRB 090423 lies at a redshift of z approximate to 8.2, implying that massive stars were being produced and dying as GRBs similar to 630 Myr after the Big Bang. The burst also pinpoints the location of its host galaxy.

/pdf/a-g-ray-burst-at-a-redshift-of-z-8-2-3jdogy0e12.pdf

A γ-ray burst at a redshift of z ≈ 8.2

We introduce a powerful semi-numeric modeling tool, 21cmFAST, designed to efficiently simulate the cosmological 21-cm signal. Our code generates 3D realizations of evolved density, ionization, peculiar velocity, and spin temperature fields, which it then combines to compute the 21-cm brightness temperature. Although the physical processes are treated with approximate methods, we compare our results to a state-of-the-art large-scale hydrodynamic simulation, and find good agreement on scales pertinent to the upcoming observations (>~ 1 Mpc). The power spectra from 21cmFAST agree with those generated from the numerical simulation to within 10s of percent, down to the Nyquist frequency. We show results from a 1 Gpc simulation which tracks the cosmic 21-cm signal down from z=250, highlighting the various interesting epochs. Depending on the desired resolution, 21cmFAST can compute a redshift realization on a single processor in just a few minutes. Our code is fast, efficient, customizable and publicly available, making it a useful tool for 21-cm parameter studies.

/pdf/21cmfast-a-fast-seminumerical-simulation-of-the-high-551c0l3hq0.pdf

21cmfast: a fast, seminumerical simulation of the high‐redshift 21‐cm signal

We report on the detection by Swift of GRB 080913, and subsequent optical/near-infrared follow-up observations by GROND, which led to the discovery of its optical/NIR afterglow and the recognition of its high-z nature via the detection of a spectral break between the i' and z' bands. Spectroscopy obtained at the ESO-VLT revealed a continuum extending down to lambda = 9400 angstrom, and zero flux for 7500 angstrom< lambda < 9400 angstrom, which we interpret as the onset of a Gunn-Peterson trough at z = 6.695 +/- 0.025 (95.5% confidence level), making GRB 080913 the highest-redshift gamma-ray burst (GRB) to date, and more distant than the highest-redshift QSO. We note that many redshift indicators that are based on promptly available burst or afterglow properties have failed for GRB 080913. We report on our follow-up campaign and compare the properties of GRB 080913 with bursts at lower redshift. In particular, since the afterglow of this burst is fainter than typical for GRBs, we show that 2 m class telescopes can identify most high-redshift GRBs.

/pdf/grb-080913-at-redshift-6-7-1xmfm7wb9k.pdf

K. Terada

Papers

Grb 080913 at redshift 6.7