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Very Early Optical Afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts: Evidence for Relative Paucity of Detection
Very early observations with the Swift satellite of γ-ray burst (GRB) afterglows reveal that the optical component is not detected in a large number of cases. This is in contrast to the bright optical flashes previously discovered in some GRBs (e.g., GRB 990123 and GRB 021211). Comparisons of the X-ray afterglow flux to the optical afterglow flux and prompt γ-ray fluence is used to quantify the seemingly deficient optical, and in some cases X-ray, light at these early epochs. This comparison reveals that some of these bursts appear to have higher than normal γ-ray efficiencies. We discuss possible mechanisms and their feasibility for explaining the apparent lack of early optical emission. The mechanisms considered include, foreground extinction, circumburst absorption, Lyα blanketing and absorption due to high-redshift, low-density environments, rapid temporal decay, and intrinsic weakness of the reverse shock. Of these, foreground extinction, circumburst absorption, and high redshift provide the best explanations for most of the nondetections in our sample. There is tentative evidence of suppression of the strong reverse shock emission. This could be because of a Poynting flux-dominated flow or a pure nonrelativistic hydrodynamic reverse shock
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Materials for Biomedical Applications
This paper discusses two ceramic material systems for selective laser sintering (SLS) that are
being developed for biomedical applications for use in repair of bone defects. SLS is the
preferred method of fabricating ceramic implants that exhibit well defined porous
microstructures. Implants fabricated in this. manner have proven effective in-vivo showing
excellent biocompatibility as well as considerable osseous integration and remodeling of the
imp'ant materialMechanical Engineerin
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