Behavior of X-Ray Dust Scattering and Implications for X-Ray Afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts

The afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have commonly been assumed to be due to shocks sweeping up the circum-stellar medium. However, most GRBs have been found in dense star-forming regions where a significant fraction of the prompt X-ray emission can be scattered by dust grains. Here we revisit the behavior of dust scattering of X-rays in GRBs. We find that the features of some X-ray afterglows from minutes to days after the gamma-ray triggers are consistent with the scattering of prompt X-ray emission from GRBs off host dust grains. This implies that some of the observed X-ray afterglows (especially those without sharp rising and decaying flares) could be understood with a dust-scattering--driven emission model.Comment: ApJ, in pres

Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows: Effects of Radiative Corrections and Nonuniformity of the Surrounding Medium

The afterglow of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) is commonly thought to be due to continuous deceleration of a relativistically expanding fireball in the surrounding medium. Assuming that the expansion of the fireball is adiabatic and that the density of the medium is a power-law function of shock radius, viz., $n_{ext}\propto R^{-k}$, we analytically study the effects of the first-order radiative correction and the nonuniformity of the medium on a GRB afterglow. We first derive a new relation among the observed time, the shock radius and the fireball's Lorentz factor: $t_\oplus=R/4(4-k)\gamma^2c$, and also derive a new relation among the comoving time, the shock radius and the fireball's Lorentz factor: $t_{co}=2R/(5-k)\gamma c$. We next study the evolution of the fireball by using the analytic solution of Blandford and McKee (1976). The radiation losses may not significantly influence this evolution. We further derive new scaling laws both between the X-ray flux and observed time and between the optical flux and observed time. We use these scaling laws to discuss the afterglows of GRB 970228 and GRB 970616, and find that if the spectral index of the electron distribution is $p=2.5$, implied from the spectra of GRBs, the X-ray afterglow of GRB970616 is well fitted by assuming $k=2$.Comment: 17 pages, no figures, Latex file, MNRAS in pres

Effects of power law primordial magnetic field on big bang nucleosynthesis

Big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) is affected by the energy density of a primordial magnetic field (PMF). For an easy derivation of constraints on models for PMF generations, we assume a PMF with a power law (PL) distribution in wave number defined with a field strength, a PL index, and maximum and minimum scales at a generation epoch. We then show a relation between PL-PMF parameters and the scale invariant (SI) strength of PMF for the first time. We perform a BBN calculation including PMF effects, and show abundances as a function of baryon to photon ratio $\eta$. The SI strength of the PMF is constrained from observational constraints on abundances of $^4$He and D. The minimum abundance of $^7$Li/H as a function of $\eta$ slightly moves to a higher $^7$Li/H value at a larger $\eta$ value when a PMF exists during BBN. We then discuss degeneracies between the PL-PMF parameters in the PMF effect. In addition, we assume a general case in which both the existence and the dissipation of PMF are possible. It is then found that an upper limit on the SI strength of the PMF can be derived from a constraint on $^4$He abundance, and that a lower limit on the allowed $^7$Li abundance is significantly higher than those observed in metal-poor stars.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, accepted for PRD 26 Oct 2012, published 10 December 201