13,415 research outputs found
Jet-driven and jet-less fireballs from compact binary mergers
During a compact binary merger involving at least one neutron star, a small
fraction of the gravitational energy could be liberated in such a way to
accelerate a small fraction (~ 10^-6) of the neutron star mass in an isotropic
or quasi-isotropic way. In presence of certain conditions, a pair-loaded
fireball can form, which undergoes accelerated expansion reaching relativistic
velocities. As in the standard fireball scenario, internal energy is partly
transformed into kinetic energy. At the photospheric radius, the internal
radiation can escape, giving rise to a pulse that lasts for a time equal to the
delay time since the merger. The subsequent interaction with the interstellar
medium can then convert part of the remaining kinetic energy back into
radiation in a weak isotropic afterglow at all wavelengths. This scenario does
not require the presence of a jet: the associated isotropic prompt and
afterglow emission should be visible for all NS-NS and BH-NS mergers within 90
Mpc, independent of their inclination. The prompt emission is similar to that
expected from an off-axis jet, either structured or much slower than usually
assumed (Gamma ~ 10), or from the jet cocoon. The predicted afterglow emission
properties can discriminate among these scenarios.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, revised version submitted to MNRAS Letter
Interpreting GRB170817A as a giant flare from a jet-less double neutron-star merger
We show that the delay between GRB170817A and GW170817 is incompatible with
de-beamed emission from an off-axis relativistic jet. The prompt emission and
the subsequent radio and X-ray observations can instead be interpreted within a
giant-flare-like scenario, being the result of a relativistic outflow driven by
the ultra-strong magnetic field produced by magnetohydrodynamic amplification
during the merger of the progenitor double neutron-star binary. Within such
picture, the data indicate that the outflow must be endowed with a steep
velocity profile, with a relatively fast tail extending to Gamma~8. Since the
conditions for the launch of such an outflow are quite general, and the
presence of a velocity profile is a natural expectation of the acceleration
process, most neutron star binary mergers should feature this quasi-isotropic,
hard X-ray emission component, that can be a powerful guide to the discovery of
additional kilonovae associated to relatively nearby gravitational wave events.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic
A statistical approach to persistent homology
Assume that a finite set of points is randomly sampled from a subspace of a
metric space. Recent advances in computational topology have provided several
approaches to recovering the geometric and topological properties of the
underlying space. In this paper we take a statistical approach to this problem.
We assume that the data is randomly sampled from an unknown probability
distribution. We define two filtered complexes with which we can calculate the
persistent homology of a probability distribution. Using statistical estimators
for samples from certain families of distributions, we show that we can recover
the persistent homology of the underlying distribution.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures, minor changes, to appear in Homology, Homotopy
and Application
Light curves and spectra from off-axis gamma-ray bursts
If gamma-ray burst prompt emission originates at a typical radius, and if
material producing the emission moves at relativistic speed, then the
variability of the resulting light curve depends on the viewing angle. This is
due to the fact that the pulse evolution time scale is Doppler contracted,
while the pulse separation is not. For off-axis viewing angles , the pulse broadening
significantly smears out the light curve variability. This is largely
independent of geometry and emission processes. To explore a specific case, we
set up a simple model of a single pulse under the assumption that the pulse
rise and decay are dominated by the shell curvature effect. We show that such a
pulse observed off-axis is (i) broader, (ii) softer and (iii) displays a
different hardness-intensity correlation with respect to the same pulse seen
on-axis. For each of these effects, we provide an intuitive physical
explanation. We then show how a synthetic light curve made by a superposition
of pulses changes with increasing viewing angle. We find that a highly variable
light curve, (as seen on-axis) becomes smooth and apparently single-pulsed
(when seen off-axis) because of pulse overlap. To test the relevance of this
fact, we estimate the fraction of off-axis gamma-ray bursts detectable by
\textit{Swift} as a function of redshift, finding that a sizable fraction
(between 10\% and 80\%) of nearby () bursts are observed with
. Based on these
results, we argue that low luminosity gamma-ray bursts are consistent with
being ordinary bursts seen off-axis.Comment: 13 pages, 17 figures, submitted to MNRAS main journal; updated
estimate of the fraction of off-axis grbs seen by Swif
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