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Optical Afterglows as Probes for the Central Engine and Fireball of Gamma-Ray Bursts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2013

Liang Li
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and GXU-NAOC Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, Guangxi University; lew@gxu.edu.cn
En-Wei Liang
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and GXU-NAOC Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, Guangxi University; lew@gxu.edu.cn National Astronomical Observatories, CAS, Beijing 100012
He Gao
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154
Bing Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and GXU-NAOC Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, Guangxi University; lew@gxu.edu.cn Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154
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Abstract

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Well-sampled optical lightcurves of 146 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are compiled from literature. We identify possible emission components based on our empirical fits and present statistical analysis for these components. We find that the flares are related to prompt emission, suggesting that they could have the same origin in different episodes. The shallow decay segment is not correlated with prompt gamma-rays. It likely signals a long-lasting injected wind from GRB central engines. Early after onset peak is closely related with prompt emission. The ambient medium density profile is likely nr−1. No correlation between the late re-brightening bump and prompt gamma-rays or the onset bump is found. They may be from another jet component.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2013

Footnotes

Supported by the “973” Program of China (2009CB824800), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 11025313), and Special Foundation for Distinguished Expert Program of Guangxi, the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2010GXNSFC013011, Contract No. 2011-135), and the 3th Innovation Projet of Guangxi University. BZ acknowledges support from NSF (AST-0908362).

References

Li, L., Liang, W., Tang, Q.-W.et al. 2012, ApJ, 758, 27CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liang, W., Li, L., He, G.et al. 2012, ApJ, submittedGoogle Scholar
Zhang, B. 2012, IAU Symposium, 279, 102Google Scholar