2006/08/17 by Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, E. Ramírez-Ruiz, Jonathan Granot · 6 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics #Classical mechanics #Electron #Gamma-ray burst #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Isotropy #Lorentz factor #Lorentz transformation #Nuclear physics #Optics #Photon #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #RADIUS #Shock (circulatory) #Synchrotron #Synchrotron radiation #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.newast.2007.06.003
published in New Astronomy 12(8), 630-634 (Elsevier BV) · 10 pages, 2 figures; submitted to ApJL
arxiv created 2006/08/17 · openalex publication_date 2007/06/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
It is demonstrated here that if the prompt GRB emission is produced by the simplest version of the external shock model, a specific relation should prevail between the observed duration, isotropic equivalent energy, and photon peak energy. In essence, this relation arises because both the burst duration and the typical energy of the emitted synchrotron photons depend on the same combination of the, usually poorly constrained, external density at the deceleration radius, ndec, and initial bulk Lorentz factor, Γ0. This has the fortunate consequence of making the relation independent of both Γ0 and ndec. Unless the efficiency of electron acceleration is very low, synchrotron gamma-rays from the external shock would fail to meet the current observational constraints for the vast majority of GRBs, including those with a smooth, single peak temporal profile. This argues either against an external shock origin for the prompt emission in GRBs or for changes in our understanding of the microphysical and radiation processes occurring within the shocked region.