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On the Prompt Signals of Gamma Ray Bursts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2013

P. Chen
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Leung Center for Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics (LeCosPA), National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 10617 & KIPAC, SLAC, Stanford University, CA 94035, USA. e-mail: pisinchen@phys.ntu.edu.tw ;
T. Tajima
Affiliation:
ZEST & Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen, Fakultat f. Physik, am Coulombwall 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
Y. Takahashi
Affiliation:
Posthumous, Department of Physics, University of Alabama, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA
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Abstract

We introduce a new model of gamma ray burst (GRB) that explains its observed promptsignals, namely, its primary quasi-thermal spectrum and high energy tail. This mechanismcan be applied to either assumption of GRB progenitor: coalescence of compact objects orhypernova explosion. The key ingredients of our model are: (1) The initial stage of a GRBis in the form of a relativistic quark-gluon plasma lava; (2) The expansion and cooling ofthis lava results in a QCD phase transition that induces a sudden gravitational stoppageof the condensed non-relativistic baryons and form a hadrosphere; (3) Acoustic shocks andAlfven waves (magnetoquakes) that erupt in episodes from the epicenter efficientlytransport the thermal energy to the hadrospheric surface and induce a rapid detachment ofleptons and photons from the hadrons; (4) The detachede + e −  and γform an opaque, relativistically hot leptosphere, which expands and cools toT ~ mc2, or 0.5 MeV,wheree + e −  → 2γand its reverse process becomes unbalanced, and the GRB photons are finally released; (5)The mode-conversion of Alfven waves into electromagnetic waves in the leptosphere providesa snowplow acceleration and deceleration that gives rise to both the high energy spectrumof GRB and the erosion of its thermal spectrum down to a quasi-thermal distribution.According to this model, the observed GRB photons should have a redshifted peak frequencyatEp ~ Γ(1 + β/2)mc2/(1 + z),where Γ ~ O(1) is the Lorentz factor of the bulk flow of the lava,which may be determined from the existing GRB data.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences 2013

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References

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