2003/05/31 by F. Tavecchio, Fabrizio Tavecchio, G. Ghisellini +3 · 5 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Emission spectrum #Funnel #Gamma-ray burst #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Ionization #Luminosity #Reflection (computer programming) #SAS software applications and methods #Spectral line #Thermal emission #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20034626
published in Astronomy and Astrophysics 415(2), 443-450 (EDP Sciences) · revised version accepted for publication by A&A
arxiv created 2003/10/10 · openalex publication_date 2004/02/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We reanalyze the XMM–Newton data of GRB 011211 showing that the spectral features, interpreted by Reeves et al. ([CITE], [CITE]) as due to thermal emission from a collisionally ionized plasma, can be also reproduced by a reflection model (with ionization parameter ). We discuss the implications of this interpretation, estimating the total mass required in the simplified case of a funnel geometry. We conclude that a moderate clumping of the reprocessing material (corresponding to a filling factor of the order of ) is required. Finally we show that, if this interpretation is correct, a bright quasi–thermal component is expected in the optical–UV band (containing about of the luminosity of the illuminating continuum), whose presence can be used to test the reflection model.