2007/08/11 by Miloš Milosavljević, Milos Milosavljevic, Milosavljevic, Milos +4 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Planetary Science and Exploration #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0708.1588
4 pages, 1 figure
arxiv created 2007/08/11 · openalex publication_date 2007/08/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Because conical segments of quasispherical ultrarelativistic blastwaves are causally disconnected on angular scales larger than the blastwave inverse Lorentz factor, astrophysical blastwaves can sustain initial anisotropy, imprinted by the process that drives the explosion, while they remain relativistic. We show that initial angular energy fluctuations in ultrarelativistic blastwaves imply a production of vorticity in the blastwave, and calculate the vortical energy production rate. In gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows, the number of vortical eddy turnovers as the shocked fluid crosses the blastwave shell is about unity for marginally nonlinear anisotropy. Thus the anisotropy must be nonlinear to explain the magnetic energy density inferred in measured GRB spectra.