1994/04/22 by P. Mészáros, P. Meszaros, M. J. Rees · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Dark matter #Gamma ray #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Physics #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/269.1.l41
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.269:L41,1994 · 5 pages, plain TeX
arxiv created 1994/04/22 · openalex publication_date 1994/07/01 · arxiv updated 2016/06/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Sudden collapse of a compact object, or coalescence of a compact binary, can generate an unsteady relativistic wind that lasts for a few seconds. The wind is likely to carry a high magnetic field; and its Lorentz factor depends on the extent to which it is ‘loaded’ with baryons. If the Lorentz factor is ∼ 100, internal dissipation and shocks in this wind produce a non-thermal gamma-ray burst, detectable in the range 0.1 MeV≲ Eγ ≲0.1-1 GeV out to cosmological distances. The cooled wind ejecta will subsequently be decelerated by the external medium. The resultant blast wave and reverse shock can then give rise to a second burst component, mainly detectable in the GeV range, with a time delay relative to the MeV burst ranging from minutes to hours.