Viewing Angle and Environment Effects in Gamma‐Ray Bursts: Sources of Afterglow Diversity

1997/09/30 by P. Mészáros, P. Meszaros, M. J. Rees +1 · 15 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Adiabatic process #Afterglow #Anisotropy #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Event (particle physics) #Gamma-ray burst #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Optics #Physics #Radiative transfer #Range (aeronautics) #Viewing angle #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/305635

published as Astrophys.J. 499 (1998) 301 · Revised version, original subm to Ap.J. 9/26/97, latex file (uses aaspp4), 17 pages. The qualitative behavior remains the same, Eqs. 8, 14, 15 have corrected exponents, Tables 1 and 2 are partially rewritten, discussion partially updated

arxiv created 1997/12/05 · openalex publication_date 1998/05/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

We discuss the afterglows from the evolution of both spherical and anisotropic fireballs decelerating in an inhomogeneous external medium. We consider both the radiative and adiabatic evolution regimes and analyze the physical conditions under which these regimes can be used. Afterglows may be expected to differ widely among themselves, depending on the angular anisotropy of the fireball and the properties of the environment. They may be entirely absent or may be detected without a corresponding γ-ray event. A tabulation of different representative light curves is presented, covering a wide range of behaviors that resemble what is currently observed in the γ-ray bursts (GRBs) GRB 970228, GRB 970508, and other objects.

Citations

• Fluid dynamics of relativistic blast waves
• Evidence for Diverse Optical Emission from Gamma‐Ray Burst Sources
• Delayed GeV emission from cosmological gamma-ray bursts: impact of a relativistic wind on external matter
• Implications of the Radio Afterglow from the Gamma‐Ray Burst of 1997 May 8
• Optical and Long‐Wavelength Afterglow from Gamma‐Ray Bursts
• Observations and Theoretical Implications of GRB 970228

Cited by

• EP250108a/SN 2025kg: A Jet-Driven Stellar Explosion Interacting With Circumstellar Material
• Power-Law Decays in the Optical Counterparts of GRB 970228 and GRB 970508
• Expected Number and Flux Distribution of Gamma‐Ray Burst Afterglows with High Redshifts
• Neutrino Afterglows and Progenitors of Gamma‐Ray Bursts
• The Peak Energy Distribution of the ν F ν Spectra and the Implications for the Jet Structure Models of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Testing Gamma‐Ray Burst Jet Structure with the Distribution of Gamma‐Ray Energy Release
• The Optical Afterglow of the Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 011211
• On the nature of late X-ray flares in Swift gamma-ray bursts
• The luminous host galaxy, faint supernova and rapid afterglow rebrightening of GRB 100418A
• The physics of gamma-ray bursts
• Radiative Regimes in Gamma‐Ray Bursts and Afterglows
• Constraining external reverse shock physics of gamma-ray bursts from ROTSE-III limits
• The Rapid Decline of the Prompt Emission in Gamma‐Ray Bursts
• Fast X‐Ray Transients and Their Connection to Gamma‐Ray Bursts
• Gamma-ray bursts: polarization of afterglows from two-component jets