2005/02/28 by Gregory D. Fleishman · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/498732
published as Astrophys.J. 638 (2006) 348-353 · 15 pages, 2 figures, accepted for ApJ. Typo removed. More discussion added. Wording adjusted to ApJ style: "errors" replaced with "oversimplifications" or so
arxiv created 2006/02/02 · openalex publication_date 2006/02/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
The spectrum of electromagnetic emission generated by relativistic electrons scattered on small-scale random magnetic fields, implied by current models of the magnetic field generation in the gamma-ray burst sources, is considered. The theory developed includes both perturbative and nonperturbative versions and therefore suggests a general treatment of the radiation in an arbitrary small-scale random field. It is shown that a general treatment of the random nature of the small-scale magnetic field, as well as angular diffusion of the electrons due to multiple scattering by magnetic inhomogeneities (i.e., nonperturbative effects), gives rise to a radiation spectrum that differs significantly from the so-called "jitter" spectrum. The spectrum of diffusive synchrotron radiation seems to be consistent with the low-energy spectral index distribution of the gamma-ray bursts.