On the afterglow from the receding jet of gamma-ray burst

According to popular progenitor models of gamma-ray bursts, twin jets should be launched by the central engine, with a forward jet moving toward the observer and a receding jet (or the counter jet) moving backwardly. However, in calculating the afterglows, usually only the emission from the forward jet is considered. Here we present a detailed numerical study on the afterglow from the receding jet. Our calculation is based on a generic dynamical description, and includes some delicate ingredients such as the effect of the equal arrival time surface. It is found that the emission from the receding jet is generally rather weak. In radio bands, it usually peaks at a time of $t \geq 1000$ d, with the peak flux nearly 4 orders of magnitude lower than the peak flux of the forward jet. Also, it usually manifests as a short plateau in the total afterglow light curve, but not as an obvious rebrightening as once expected. In optical bands, the contribution from the receding jet is even weaker, with the peak flux being $\sim 8$ orders of magnitude lower than the peak flux of the forward jet. We thus argue that the emission from the receding jet is very difficult to detect. However, in some special cases, i.e., when the circum-burst medium density is very high, or if the parameters of the receding jet is quite different from those of the forward jet, the emission from the receding jet can be significantly enhanced and may still emerge as a marked rebrightening. We suggest that the search for receding jet emission should mostly concentrate on nearby gamma-ray bursts, and the observation campaign should last for at least several hundred days for each event.Comment: A few citations added, together with a few minor revisions, main conclusions unchanged, accepted for publication in A&A, 7 figures, 10 Page

GRBs and fundamental physics

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are short and intense flashes at the cosmological distances, which are the most luminous explosions in the Universe. The high luminosities of GRBs make them detectable out to the edge of the visible universe. So, they are unique tools to probe the properties of high-redshift universe: including the cosmic expansion and dark energy, star formation rate, the reionization epoch and the metal evolution of the Universe. First, they can be used to constrain the history of cosmic acceleration and the evolution of dark energy in a redshift range hardly achievable by other cosmological probes. Second, long GRBs are believed to be formed by collapse of massive stars. So they can be used to derive the high-redshift star formation rate, which can not be probed by current observations. Moreover, the use of GRBs as cosmological tools could unveil the reionization history and metal evolution of the Universe, the intergalactic medium (IGM) properties and the nature of first stars in the early universe. But beyond that, the GRB high-energy photons can be applied to constrain Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) and to test Einstein's Equivalence Principle (EEP). In this paper, we review the progress on the GRB cosmology and fundamental physics probed by GRBs.Comment: 38 pages, 18 figures, Review based on ISSI workshop "Gamma-Ray Bursts: a Tool to Explore the Young Universe" (2015, Beijing, China), accepted for publication in Space Science Review

Nonconical theory of flow past slender wing bodies with leading-edge separation

Nonconical theory of flow past slender wing bodies with leading edge separatio