Long GRBs are the most powerful explosions in the universe since the Big Bang. At least, some fraction of long GRBs are born from the death of massive stars. Likewise, only some fraction of massive ...stars that satisfy additional special conditions explode as long GRBs associated with supernovae/hypernovae. In this paper, we discuss the explosion mechanism of long GRBs associated with hypernovae: 'the central engine of long GRBs'. The central engine of long GRBs is very different from that of core-collapse supernovae, although the mechanism of the engine is still not firmly established. In this paper, we review theoretical studies of the central engine of long GRBs. First, we discuss possible progenitor stars. Then several promising mechanisms of the central engine-such as black hole and magnetar formation-will be reviewed. We will also mention some more exotic models. Finally, we describe prospects for future studies of the central engine of long GRBs.
Abstract
We present the first global model of prompt emission from a short gamma-ray burst (GRB) that consistently describes the evolution of the central black hole (BH) torus system, the propagation ...of the jet through multicomponent merger ejecta, the transition into free expansion, and the photospheric emission from the relativistic jet. To this end, we perform a special relativistic neutrino-hydrodynamics simulation of a viscous BH-torus system, which is formed about 500 ms after the merger and is surrounded by dynamical ejecta as well as neutron star winds, along with a jet that is injected in the vicinity of the central BH. In a postprocessing step, we compute the photospheric emission using a relativistic Monte Carlo radiative transfer code. It is found that the wind from the torus leaves a strong imprint on the jet as well as on the emission, causing narrow collimation and rapid time variability. The dependence of the emission on viewing angle gives rise to correlations among the spectral peak energy,
E
p
, isotropic energy,
E
iso
, and peak luminosity,
L
p
, which may provide natural explanations for the Amati and Yonetoku relations. We also find that the degree of polarization is small for emission from the jet core (≲2%), while it tends to increase with viewing angle outside the core and can become as high as ∼10%–40% for energies larger than the peak energy. Finally, the comparison of our model with GRB 170817A strongly disfavors the photospheric emission scenario and therefore supports alternative scenarios, such as cocoon shock breakout.
We performed simulations of collapsars with different Kerr parameters of
$a$
$=$
0, 0.5, 0.9, and 0.95. It was shown that a more rapidly rotating black hole is driving a more energetic jet. No jet is ...seen for the case of the Schwartzschild black-hole case, while the total energy of the jet is as large as 10
$^{50}\ $
erg for a rapidly rotating Kerr black-hole case (
$a$
$=$
0.95). In order to explain the high luminosity of a gamma-ray burst, it is concluded that a rapidly rotating black hole is favored ('faster is better'). We also find that in the case of
$a$
$=$
0.95, (i) a stagnation region is clearly found in the jet region, (ii) ordered poloidal field lines are seen in the jet, (iii) the jet region is surrounded by a 'wall-like' structure that has a higher pressure than the jet region, and contains strong vertical magnetic fields, and (iv) the jet is initiated by an outgoing Poynting flux from the outer horizon of the black hole (Blandford–Znajek effect). The bulk Lorentz factor of the jet is still on the order of unity. However, the energy density of electro-magnetic fields is dominated by the one of rest-mass in the jet. It can be expected that a relativistic jet will be seen if we perform a simulation for a longer time scale (of the order of 10–100 s).
Long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the brightest events since the Big Bang itself, are believed to originate in an ultra-relativistic jet breaking out from a massive stellar envelope. Despite ...decades of study, there is still no consensus on their emission mechanism. One unresolved question is the origin of the tight correlation between the spectral peak energy and peak luminosity discovered in observations. This Yonetoku relation is the tightest correlation found in the properties of the prompt phase of GRB emission, providing the best diagnostic for the radiation mechanism. Here we present three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations, and post-process radiation transfer calculations, of photospheric emission from a relativistic jet. Our simulations reproduce the Yonetoku relation as a natural consequence of viewing angle. Although jet dynamics depend sensitively on luminosity, the correlation holds regardless. This result strongly suggests that photospheric emission is the dominant component in the prompt phase of GRBs.
ABSTRACT
Radiation-mediated shocks (RMS) play a key role in shaping the early emission observed in many transients. In most cases, e.g. shock breakout in supernovae, llGRBs, and neutron star mergers, ...the upstream plasma is devoid of radiation, and the photons that ultimately reach the observer are generated predominantly inside and downstream of the shock. Predicting the observed spectrum requires detailed calculations of the shock structure and thermodynamic state that account properly for the shock microphysics. We present results of self-consistent Monte Carlo simulations of photon-starved RMS, which yield the shock structure and emission for a broad range of shock velocities, from subrelativistic (βsh = 0.1) to highly relativistic (Γsh = 20). Our simulations confirm that in relativistic RMS the immediate downstream temperature is regulated by exponential pair creation, ranging from 50 keV at βsh = 0.5–200 keV at Γsh = 20. At lower velocities, the temperature becomes sensitive to the shock velocity, with kT ∼ 0.5 keV at βsh = 0.1. We also confirm that in relativistic shocks the opacity is completely dominated by newly created pairs, which has important implications for the breakout physics. We find the transition to pair dominance to occur at βsh = 0.5 roughly. In all cases examined, the spectrum below the νFν peak has been found to be substantially softer than the Planck distribution. This has important implications for the optical emission in fast and relativistic breakouts, and their detection. The applications to GRB 060218 and GRB 170817A are discussed.
Abstract
Observations collected with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and analysis of broadband X-ray spectra have recently suggested the presence of a central compact object ...(CCO) in SN 1987A. However, no direct evidence of the CCO has been found yet. Here we analyze Chandra X-ray observations of SN 1987A collected in 2007 and 2018, and synthesize 2027 Chandra and 2037 Lynx spectra of the faint inner region of SN 1987A. We estimate the temporal evolution of the upper limits of the intrinsic luminosity of the putative CCO in three epochs (2018, 2027, and 2037). We find that these upper limits are higher for higher neutron star (NS) kick velocities due to increased absorption from the surrounding cold ejecta. We compare NS cooling models with both the intrinsic luminosity limits obtained from the X-ray spectra and the ALMA constraints with the assumption that the observed blob of SN 1987A is primarily heated by thermal emission. We find that the synthetic Lynx spectra are crucial to constrain the physical properties of the CCO, which will be confirmed by future observations in the 2040s. We draw our conclusions based on two scenarios, namely the nondetection and detection of the NS by Lynx. If the NS is not detected, its kick velocity should be ≃700 km s
−1
. Furthermore, nondetection of the NS would suggest rapid cooling processes at the age of 40 yr, implying strong crust superfluidity. Conversely, in the case of NS detection, the mass of the NS envelope must be high.
Accretion and merger shocks in clusters of galaxies are potential accelerators of high-energy protons, which can give rise to high-energy neutrinos through pp interactions with the intracluster gas. ...We discuss the possibility that protons from cluster shocks make a significant contribution to the observed cosmic rays in the energy range between the second knee at image10 super(17.5) eV and the ankle at image10 super(18.5) eV. The accompanying cumulative neutrino background above imagePeV may be detectable by upcoming neutrino telescopes such as IceCube or KM3NeT, providing a test of this scenario as well as a probe of cosmic-ray confinement properties in clusters.
Abstract
Since the day of its explosion, SN 1987A (SN87A) was closely monitored with the aim to study its evolution and to detect its central compact relic. The detection of neutrinos from the ...supernova strongly supports the formation of a neutron star (NS). However, the constant and fruitless search for this object has led to different hypotheses on its nature. To date, the detection in the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array data of a feature that is somehow compatible with the emission arising from a proto-pulsar wind nebula (PWN) is the only hint of the existence of such elusive compact object. Here we tackle this 33 yr old issue by analyzing archived observations of SN87A performed by Chandra and NuSTAR in different years. We firmly detect nonthermal emission in the 10–20 kev energy band, due to synchrotron radiation. The possible physical mechanism powering such emission is twofold: diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) or emission arising from an absorbed PWN. By relating a state-of-the-art magnetohydrodynamic simulation of SN87A to the actual data, we reconstruct the absorption pattern of the PWN embedded in the remnant and surrounded by cold ejecta. We found that, even though the DSA scenario cannot be firmly excluded, the most likely scenario that well explains the data is that of PWN emission.
Abstract
We explore the physics of relativistic radiation-mediated shocks (RRMSs) in the regime where photon advection dominates over photon generation. For this purpose, a novel iterative method for ...deriving a self-consistent steady-state structure of RRMS is developed, based on a Monte Carlo code that solves the transfer of photons subject to Compton scattering and pair production/annihilation. Systematic study is performed by imposing various upstream conditions which are characterized by the following three parameters: the photon-to-baryon inertia ratio ξu*, the photon-to-baryon number ratio $\tilde{n}$, and the shock Lorentz factor γu. We find that the properties of RRMSs vary considerably with these parameters. In particular, while a smooth decline in the velocity, accompanied by a gradual temperature increase is seen for ξu* ≫ 1, an efficient bulk Comptonization, that leads to a heating precursor, is found for ξu* ≲ 1. As a consequence, although particle acceleration is highly inefficient in these shocks, a broad non-thermal spectrum is produced in the latter case. The generation of high-energy photons through bulk Comptonization leads, in certain cases, to a copious production of pairs that provide the dominant opacity for Compton scattering. We also find that for certain upstream conditions a weak subshock appears within the flow. For a choice of parameters suitable to gamma-ray bursts, the radiation spectrum within the shock is found to be compatible with that of the prompt emission, suggesting that subphotospheric shocks may give rise to the observed non-thermal features despite the absence of accelerated particles.
High-energy peaked blazars are known to undergo episodes of flaring in GeV-TeV gamma-rays involving different timescales. This flaring mechanism is not well understood, despite long-term simultaneous ...multiwavelength observations. These gamma-rays en route to Earth undergo attenuation by the extragalactic background light. Using the photohadronic model, where the seed photons follow a power-law spectrum and a template extragalactic background light model, we derive a simple relation between the observed multi-TeV gamma-ray flux and the intrinsic flux with a single parameter. We study 42 flaring epochs of 23 blazars and excellent fits to most of the observed spectra are obtained, strengthening the photohadronic origin of multi-TeV gamma-rays. We can also constrain the power spectrum of the seed photons during the flaring period. Stringent bounds on the blazars of unknown redshifts, whose multi-TeV flaring spectra are known, can be placed using the photohadronic model.
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