Off-axis short GRBs from structured jets as counterparts to GW events

Binary neutron star mergers are considered to be the most favorable sources that produce electromagnetic (EM) signals associated with gravitational waves (GWs). These mergers are the likely progenitors of short duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The brief gamma-ray emission (the "prompt GRB" emission) is produced by ultra-relativistic jets, as a result, this emission is strongly beamed over a small solid angle along the jet. It is estimated to be a decade or more before a short GRB jet within the LIGO volume points along our line of sight. For this reason, the study of the prompt signal as an EM counterpart to GW events has been sparse. We argue that for a realistic jet model, one whose luminosity and Lorentz factor vary smoothly with angle, the prompt signal can be detected for a significantly broader range of viewing angles. This can lead to a new type of EM counterpart, an "off-axis" short GRB. Our estimates and simulations show that it is feasible to detect these signals with the aid of the temporal coincidence from a LIGO trigger, even if the observer is substantially misaligned with respect to the jet.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted to MNRAS Letter

Magnetic Fields In Relativistic Collisionless Shocks

We present a systematic study on magnetic fields in Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) external forward shocks (FSs). There are 60 (35) GRBs in our X-ray (optical) sample, mostly from Swift. We use two methods to study epsilon_B (fraction of energy in magnetic field in the FS). 1. For the X-ray sample, we use the constraint that the observed flux at the end of the steep decline is $\ge$ the X-ray FS flux. 2. For the optical sample, we use the condition that the observed flux arises from the FS (optical sample light curves decline as ~t^-1, as expected for the FS). Making a reasonable assumption on E (jet isotropic equivalent kinetic energy), we converted these conditions into an upper limit (measurement) on epsilon_B n^{2/(p+1)} for our X-ray (optical) sample, where n is the circumburst density and p is the electron index. Taking n=1 cm^-3, the distribution of epsilon_B measurements (upper limits) for our optical (X-ray) sample has a range of ~10^-8 -10^-3 (~10^-6 -10^-3) and median of ~few x 10^-5 (~few x 10^-5). To characterize how much amplification is needed, beyond shock compression of a seed magnetic field ~10 muG, we expressed our results in terms of an amplification factor, AF, which is very weakly dependent on n (AF propto n^0.21 ). The range of AF measurements (upper limits) for our optical (X-ray) sample is ~ 1-1000 (~10-300) with a median of ~50 (~50). These results suggest that some amplification, in addition to shock compression, is needed to explain the afterglow observations.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. Minor changes after Referee Report. 22 Pages, 7 Figure

Shedding light on the prompt high efficiency paradox - self consistent modeling of GRB afterglows

We examine GRBs with both Fermi-LAT and X-ray afterglow data. Assuming that the 100MeV (LAT) emission is radiation from cooled electrons accelerated by external shocks, we show that the kinetic energy of the blast wave estimated from the 100MeV flux is 50 times larger than the one estimated from the X-ray flux. This can be explained if either: i) electrons radiating at X-rays are significantly cooled by SSC (suppressing the synchrotron flux above the cooling frequency) or ii) if the X-ray emitting electrons, unlike those emitting at 100MeV energies, are in the slow cooling regime. In both cases the X-ray flux is no longer an immediate proxy of the blast wave kinetic energy. We model the LAT, X-ray and optical data and show that in general these possibilities are consistent with the data, and explain the apparent disagreement between X-ray and LAT observations. All possible solutions require weak magnetic fields: $10^{-6}< \epsilon_B < 10^{-3}$ (where $\epsilon_B$ is the fraction of shocked plasma energy in magnetic fields). Using the LAT emission as a proxy for the blast wave kinetic energy we find that the derived prompt efficiencies are of order 15%. This is considerably lower compared with previous estimates (87% and higher for the same bursts). This provides at least a partial solution to the "prompt high efficiency paradox".Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of "Swift: 10 Years of Discovery

Ready, Set, Launch: Time Interval between a Binary Neutron Star Merger and Short Gamma-Ray Burst Jet Formation

The joint detection of GW170817/GRB 170817 confirmed the long-standing theory that binary neutron star mergers produce short gamma-ray burst (sGRB) jets that can successfully break out of the surrounding ejecta. At the same time, the association with a kilonova provided unprecedented information regarding the physical properties (such as masses and velocities) of the different ejecta constituents. Combining this knowledge with the observed luminosities and durations of cosmological sGRBs detected by the Burst Alert Telescope onboard the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, we revisit the breakout conditions of sGRB jets. Assuming self-collimation of sGRB jets does not play a critical role, we find that the time interval between the binary merger and the launch of a typical sGRB jet is ≾0.1 s. We also show that for a fraction of at least ~30% of sGRBs, the usually adopted assumption of static ejecta is inconsistent with observations, even if the polar ejecta mass is an order of magnitude smaller than that in GRB 170817. Our results disfavor magnetar central engines for powering cosmological sGRBs, limit the amount of energy deposited in the cocoon prior to breakout, and suggest that the observed delay of ~1.7 s in GW170817/GRB 170817 between the gravitational wave and gamma-ray signals is likely dominated by the propagation time of the jet to the gamma-ray production site