2008/09/23 by C. D. Dermer, Charles D. Dermer, Chris L. Fryer +2
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0809.3959
33 pages; notes to a series of 5 one-hour lectures given at the First La Plata School in Astrophysics and Geophysics, La Plata, Argentina, March 10 - 14, 2008
arxiv created 2008/09/23 · openalex publication_date 2008/09/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are a mixed class of sources consisting of, at least, the long duration and short-hard subclasses, the X-ray flashes, and the low-luminosity GRBs. In all cases, the release of enormous amounts of energy on a short timescale makes an energetic, relativistic or mildly relativistic fireball that expands until it reaches a coasting Lorentz factor determined by the amount of baryons mixed into the fireball. Radiation is produced when the blast wave interacts with the surrounding medium at an external shock, or when shell collisions dissipate kinetic energy at internal shocks. This series of notes is organized as follows: (1) The observational situation of GRBs is summarized; (2) Progenitor models of GRBs are described; (3) An overview of the the blast-wave physics used to model leptonic emissions is given; (4) GRB physics is applied to hadronic acceleration and ultra-high energy cosmic ray production; (5) Prospects for GRB physics and gamma-ray astronomy with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST, formerly GLAST), and space-based and ground-based observatories are considered. Also included are exercises and problems.