2001/04/07 by X. Y. Wang, Z. G. Dai, T. Lu · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Compton scattering #Ejecta #Electron #Gamma-ray burst #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Neutrino Physics Research #Photon #Shock (circulatory) #Shock waves in astrophysics #Spectral line #Synchrotron #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/321608
published as Astrophys.J. 556 (2001) 1010-1016 · 15 pages, 4 EPS figures, Latex, accepted for publication in ApJ, scheduled for the v556 n2 Aug 1, 2001 issue
arxiv created 2001/04/07 · openalex publication_date 2001/08/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We calculate the spectra of inverse Compton (IC) emissions in gamma-ray burst (GRB) shocks produced when relativistic ejecta encounters the external interstellar medium, assuming a broken power-law approximation to the synchrotron seed spectrum. Four IC processes, including the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) processes in GRB forward and reverse shocks, and two combined-IC processes (i.e., scattering of reverse shock photons on the electrons in forward shocks and forward shock photons on the electrons in reverse shocks), are considered. We find that the SSC emission from reverse shocks dominates over other emission processes in energy bands from tens of MeV to tens of GeV, for a wide range of shock parameters. This mechanism may be responsible for the prompt high-energy gamma rays detected by EGRET. At TeV energy bands, however, the combined-IC emissions and/or the SSC emission from the forward shocks become increasingly dominant for a moderately steep distribution of shocked electrons.