X-ray flares from dense shells formed in gamma-ray burst explosions

Bright X-ray flares are routinely detected by the Swift satellite during the early afterglow of gamma-ray bursts, when the explosion ejecta drives a blast wave into the external medium. We suggest that the flares are produced as the reverse shock propagates into the tail of the ejecta. The ejecta is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2015-03
Main Authors: Hascoet, R, Beloborodov, A M, Daigne, F, Mochkovitch, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ejecta
Explosions
Flares
Gamma ray bursts
Gamma rays
X-ray astronomy
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Bright X-ray flares are routinely detected by the Swift satellite during the early afterglow of gamma-ray bursts, when the explosion ejecta drives a blast wave into the external medium. We suggest that the flares are produced as the reverse shock propagates into the tail of the ejecta. The ejecta is expected to contain a few dense shells formed at an earlier stage of the explosion. We show an example of how such dense shells form and describe how the reverse shock interacts with them. A new reflected shock is generated in this interaction, which produces a short-lived X-ray flare. The model provides a natural explanation for the main observed features of the X-ray flares --- the fast rise, the steep power-law decline, and the characteristic peak duration \Delta t /t= (0.1-0.3).
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1503.08333