9,974 research outputs found
Gamma-ray burst spectra from continuously accelerated electrons
We discuss here constraints on the particle acceleration models from the
observed gamma-ray bursts spectra. The standard synchrotron shock model assumes
that some fraction of available energy is given instantaneously to the
electrons which are injected at high Lorentz factor. The emitted spectrum in
that case corresponds to the spectrum of cooling electrons, F_\nu ~ \nu^{-1/2},
is much too soft to account for the majority of the observed spectral slopes.
We show that continuous heating of electrons over the life-time of a source is
needed to produce hard observed spectra. In this model, a prominent peak
develops in the electron distribution at energy which is a strong function of
Thomson optical depth \tau_T of heated electrons (pairs). At \tau_T>1, a
typical electron Lorentz factor \gamma ~ 1-2 and quasi-thermal Comptonization
operates. It produces spectrum peaking at a too high energy. Optical depths
below 10^{-4} would be difficult to imagine in any physical scenario. At \tau_T
=10^{-4}-10^{-2}, \gamma ~ 30-100 and synchrotron self-Compton radiation is the
main emission mechanism. The synchrotron peak should be observed at 10--100 eV,
while the self-absorbed low-energy tail with F_\nu ~ \nu^2 can produce the
prompt optical emission (like in the case of GRB 990123). The first Compton
scattering radiation by nearly monoenergetic electrons peaks in the BATSE
energy band and can be as hard as F_\nu ~ \nu^1 reproducing the hardness of
most of the observed GRB spectra. The second Compton peak should be observed in
the high-energy gamma-ray band, possibly being responsible for the 10-100 MeV
emission detected in GRB 941017. A significant electron-positron pair
production reduces the available energy per particle, moving spectral peaks to
lower energies as the burst progresses.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, Il nuovo cimento C, in press. Proceedings of the
4th Workshop Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Afterglow Era, Rome, 18-22 October 200
The mystery of spectral breaks: Lyman continuum absorption by photon-photon pair production in the Fermi GeV spectra of bright blazars
We reanalyze Fermi/LAT gamma-ray spectra of bright blazars with a higher
photon statistics than in previous works and with new Pass 7 data
representation. In the spectra of the brightest blazar 3C 454.3 and possibly of
4C +21.35 we detect breaks at 5 GeV (in the rest frame) associated with the
photon-photon pair production absorption by He II Lyman continuum (LyC). We
also detect confident breaks at 20 GeV associated with hydrogen LyC both in the
individual spectra and in the stacked redshift-corrected spectrum of several
bright blazars. The detected breaks in the stacked spectra univocally prove
that they are associated with atomic ultraviolet emission features of the
quasar broad-line region (BLR). The dominance of the absorption by hydrogen Ly
complex over He II, rather small detected optical depth, and the break energy
consistent with the head-on collisions with LyC photons imply that the
gamma-ray emission site is located within the BLR, but most of the BLR emission
comes from a flat disk-like structure producing little opacity. Alternatively,
the LyC emission region size might be larger than the BLR size measured from
reverberation mapping, and/or the gamma-ray emitting region is extended. These
solutions would resolve a long-standing issue how the multi-hundred GeV photons
can escape from the emission zone without being absorbed by softer photons.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures; accepted to Ap
A photon breeding mechanism for the high-energy emission of relativistic jets
We propose a straightforward and efficient mechanism for the high-energy
emission of relativistic astrophysical jets associated with an exchange of
interacting high-energy photons between the jet and the external environment.
Physical processes playing the main role in this mechanism are
electron-positron pair production by photons and the inverse Compton
scattering. This scenario has been studied analytically as well as with
numerical simulations demonstrating that a relativistic jet (with the Lorentz
factor larger than 3--4) moving through the sufficiently dense, soft radiation
field inevitably undergoes transformation into a luminous state. The process
has a supercritical character: the high-energy photons breed exponentially
being fed directly by the bulk kinetic energy of the jet. Eventually particles
feed back on the fluid dynamics and the jet partially decelerates. As a result,
a significant fraction (at least 20 per cent) of the jet kinetic energy is
converted into radiation mainly in the MeV -- GeV energy range. The mechanism
maybe responsible for the bulk of the emission of relativistic jets in active
galactic nuclei, microquasars and gamma-ray bursts.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures; MNRAS, in pres
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