119347677
On the Shallow Decay of Some GRB Afterglows
Half of the radio afterglows for which there is a good temporal coverage exhibit, after 10 days from the burst, a decay which is shallower than at optical frequencies, contrary to what is expected within the simplest form of the standard model of relativistic fireballs or jets. We investigate possible ways to decouple the radio and optical decays. First, the radio and optical emissions are assumed to arise from the same electron population, and we allow for either a time‐varying slope of the power‐law distribution of electron energy or for time‐varying microphysical parameters. Then we consider two scenarios where the radio and optical emissions arise in distinct parts of the GRB outflow, either because the outflow has an angular structure or because there is a long‐lived reverse shock. We find that only the last scenario is compatible with the observations.
53358770
Evidence for mild deviation from power-law distribution of electrons in relativistic shocks: GRB 090902B
Many previous studies have determined that the long lasting emission at X-ray, optical and radio wavelengths from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), called the afterglow, is likely produced by the external forward shock model. In this model, the GRB jet interacts with the circum-stellar medium and drives a shock that heats the medium, which radiates via synchrotron emission. In this work, we carried out a detailed analysis of the late time afterglow data of GRB 090902B using a very careful accounting of the Inverse Compton losses. We find that in the context of the external forward shock model, the only viable option to explain the X-ray and optical data of GRB 090920B is to have the electron energy distribution deviate from a power-law shape and exhibit some slight curvature immediately downstream of the shock front (we explored other models that rely on a single power-law assumption, but they all fail to explain the observations). We find the fraction of the energy of shocked plasma in magnetic field to be ∼10 −6 using late time afterglow data, which is consistent with the value obtained using early gamma-ray data. Studies like the present one might be able to provide a link between GRB afterglow modelling and numerical simulations of particle acceleration in collisionless shocks. We also provide detailed calculations for the early (10 3 s) high-energy (>100 MeV) emission and confirm that it is consistent with origin in the external forward shock. We investigated the possibility that the ∼10 keV excess observed in the spectrum during the prompt phase also has its origin in the external shock and found the answer to be negative.
53385261
Supernovae Powered by Collapsar Accretion in Gamma-Ray Burst Sources
The association of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) with Type Ic supernovae presents a challenge to supernova explosion models. In the collapsar model for LGRBs, gamma rays are produced in an ultrarelativistic jet launching from the magnetosphere of the black hole that forms in the aftermath of the collapse of a rotating progenitor star. The jet is collimated along the star's rotation axis, but the concomitant luminous supernova should be relatively?though certainly not entirely?spherical, and should synthesize a substantial mass of 56Ni. Our goal is to provide a qualitative assessment of the possibility that accretion of the progenitor envelope onto the black hole, which powers the LGRB, could also deposit sufficient energy and nickel mass in the envelope to produce a luminous supernova. For this, the energy dissipated near the black hole during accretion must be transported outward, where it can drive a supernova-like shock wave. Here we suggest that the energy is transported by convection and develop an analytical toy model, relying on global mass and energy conservation, for the dynamics of stellar collapse. The model suggests that a ~10 000 km s?1 shock can be driven into the envelope and that ~1051 erg explosions are possible. The efficiency with which the accretion energy is being transferred to the envelope is governed by the competition of advection and convection at distances ~100-1000 km from the black hole and is sensitive to the values of the convective mixing length, the magnitude of the effective viscous stress, and the specific angular momentum of the infalling envelope. Substantial masses of 56Ni may be synthesized in the convective accretion flow over the course of tens of seconds from the initial circularization of the infalling envelope around the black hole. The synthesized nickel is convectively mixed with a much larger mass of unburned ejecta.
14393282
Scattered emission from a relativistic outflow and its application to gamma-ray bursts
We investigate a scenario of photon scattering by electrons within a relativistic outflow. The outflow is composed of discrete shells with different speeds. One shell emits radiation for a short duration. Some of this radiation is scattered by the shell(s) behind. We calculate in a simple two-shell model the observed scattered flux density as a function of the observed primary flux density, the normalized arrival time delay between the two emission components, the Lorentz factor ratio of the two shells and the scattering shell's optical depth. Thomson scattering in a cold shell and inverse Compton scattering in a hot shell are both considered. The results of our calculations are applied to the gamma-ray bursts and the afterglows. We find that the scattered flux from a cold slower shell is small and likely to be detected only for those bursts with very weak afterglows. A hot scattering shell could give rise to a scattered emission as bright as the X-ray shallow decay component detected in many bursts, on a condition that the isotropically equivalent total energy carried by the hot electrons is large, ∼10 52 -10 56 erg. The scattered emission from a faster shell could appear as a late short γ-ray/MeV flash or become part of the prompt emission depending on the delay of the ejection of the shell.
53321571
COLLAPSAR ACCRETION AND THE GAMMA-RAY BURST X-RAY LIGHT CURVE
We present axisymmetric hydrodynamical simulations of the long-term accretion of a rotating gamma-ray burst (GRB) progenitor star, a "collapsar," onto the central compact object, which we take to be a black hole. The simulations were carried out with the adaptive-mesh-refinement code FLASH in two spatial dimensions and with an explicit shear viscosity. The evolution of the central accretion rate exhibits phases reminiscent of the long GRB γ-ray and X-ray light curve, which lends support to the proposal by Kumar et al. that the luminosity is modulated by the central accretion rate. In the first "prompt" phase, the black hole acquires most of its final mass through supersonic quasiradial accretion occurring at a steady rate of ~0.2 M ☉ s–1. After a few tens of seconds, an accretion shock sweeps outward through the star. The formation and outward expansion of the accretion shock is accompanied with a sudden and rapid power-law decline in the central accretion rate , which resembles the L X ∝ t –3 decline observed in the X-ray light curves. The collapsed, shock-heated stellar envelope settles into a thick, low-mass equatorial disk embedded within a massive, pressure-supported atmosphere. After a few hundred seconds, the inflow of low angular momentum material in the axial funnel reverses into an outflow from the thick disk. Meanwhile, the rapid decline of the accretion rate slows down, which is potentially suggestive of the "plateau" phase in the X-ray light curve. We complement our adiabatic simulations with an analytical model that takes into account the cooling by neutrino emission and estimate that the duration of the prompt phase can be ~20 s. The model suggests that the steep decline in GRB X-ray light curves is triggered by the circularization of the infalling stellar envelope at radii where the virial temperature is below 1010 K, such that neutrino cooling is inefficient and an outward expansion of the accretion shock becomes imminent; GRBs with longer prompt γ-ray emission should have more slowly rotating envelopes.
53709333
Supernovae-induced accretion and star formation in the inner kiloparsec of a gaseous disc
We consider the effects of supernovae (SNe) on accretion and star formation in a massive gaseous disc in a large primeval galaxy. The gaseous disc we envisage, roughly 1 kpc in size with ≳108 M⊙ of gas, could have formed as a result of galaxy mergers where tidal interactions removed angular momentum from gas at larger radius and thereby concentrated it within the central ∼1 kpc region. We find that SNe lead to accretion in the disc at a rate of roughly 0.1–1 M⊙ yr−1 and induce star formation at a rate of ∼10–100 M⊙ per year which contributes to the formation of a bulge; a part of the stellar velocity dispersion is due to SN shell speed from which stars are formed and a part due to the repeated action of stochastic gravitational field of SNe remnant network on stars. The rate of SN in the inner kpc is shown to be self-regulating, and it cycles through phases of low and high activity. The SN-assisted accretion transports gas from about 1 kpc to within a few pc of the centre. If this accretion were to continue down to the central black hole then the resulting ratio of black hole mass to the stellar mass in the bulge would be of the order of ∼ 10−2–10−3, in line with the observed Magorrian relation.
124715654
Search for an effect of shell closure on nuclear dissipation via a neutron-multiplicity measurement
120052850
Search for entrance channel effects in heavy ion induced fusion reactions through the compound system79Rb
120167461
Anomalous behavior of the level density parameter in neutron and charged particle evaporation
The compound nucleus $^{76}\mathrm{Kr}*$ was populated at the excitation energy of $75\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MeV}$ and angular momentum of $39\ensuremath{\hbar}$ in fusion reactions with two complementary, mass-symmetric $(^{31}\mathrm{P}+^{45}\mathrm{Sc})$ and mass-asymmetric $(^{12}\mathrm{C}+^{64}\mathrm{Zn})$ entrance channels. The neutron evaporation spectra were measured and compared with the predictions of statistical model calculations using the transmission coefficients for the spherical nuclei in the inverse absorption channel, the rotating liquid drop model moment of inertia, and the normal systematic value of $A∕8$ for the level density parameter $a$. The results for the mass-asymmetric reaction are found to be consistent with the predictions of the statistical model calculations. However, for the mass-symmetric reaction $(^{31}\mathrm{P}+^{45}\mathrm{Sc})$, the experimental spectra are found to be harder than the theoretical neutron spectra and the statistical model calculations require a lower value of $A∕10$ for the parameter $a$ to reproduce the shape of the experimental spectra, indicating the neutron to be evaporated at higher temperature for the same excitation energy and angular momentum in symmetric system. According to the dynamical model, the formation time $(37\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}22}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{sec})$ of the compound nucleus for the symmetric $^{31}\mathrm{P}+^{45}\mathrm{Sc}$ system is significantly higher than that $(29\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}22}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{sec})$ for the asymmetric $^{12}\mathrm{C}+^{64}\mathrm{Zn}$ system. This may probably lead to the formation of a temperature-equilibrated dinuclear complex that may be responsible for neutron emission at higher temperature in the case of the symmetric system.
118437731
Growth and replication of red rain cells at 121°C and their red fluorescence
We have shown that the red cells found in the Red Rain (which fell on Kerala, India, in 2001) survive and grow after incubation for periods of up to two hours at 121°C . Under these conditions daughter cells appear within the original mother cells and the number of cells in the samples increases with length of exposure to 121°C. No such increase in cells occurs at room temperature, suggesting that the increase in daughter cells is brought about by exposure of the Red Rain cells to high temperatures. This is an independent confirmation of results reported earlier by two of the present authors, claiming that the cells can replicate under high pressure at temperatures upto 300°C. The flourescence behaviour of the red cells is shown to be in remarkable correspondence with the extended red emission observed in the Red Rectagle planetary nebula and other galactic and extragalactic dust clouds, suggesting, though not proving an extraterrestrial origin.
118721274
Wounded quarks and multiplicity at relativistic ion colliders
In this paper, we propose a parameterization which is based on a phenomenological model involving the wounded quarks interactions for explaining the average charged particle multiplicity 〈nch〉, the central pseudo-rapidity density 〈(dn/dη)η=0〉 and the complete rapidity dependence of dn/dη in relativistic heavy-ion collider experiments. The model also interrelates nucleus-nucleus (A-A collisions with p-A and p-p interactions. Our parameterization rests on simple assumptions regarding the mean number of participating quarks and their average number of collisions. The results for 〈nch〉 and their variations with the mass number of colliding nuclei, center-of-mass energy (√sNN) and collision centrality are well supported by the available experimental data. Finally we give the predictions from our model for A-A collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiments. Our results indicate the existence of a possible universal production mechanism for p-p, p -A and A-A collisions.