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Astrophysics > High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Title: Cascade Radiations of $e^\pm$ from $γγ$-annihilation process as an extra component of the Early Optical/X-Ray Afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts

Abstract: Chromatic break and/or plateau observed in the early optical and X-ray afterglow lightcurves challenge the conventional external shock models of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Detection of TeV gamma-ray afterglows indicates strong gamma-ray production within the afterglow jets. We investigate the cascade radiations of the $e^\pm$ production via the $\gamma\gamma$ interaction in the jets. Our numerical calculations show that the cascade synchrotron emission can make a significant contribution to the early optical/X-ray afterglows. The combination of the primary and cascade emission fluxes can shape a chromatic break and/or plateau in the early optical/X-ray lightcurves, depending on the jet properties. Applying our model to GRBs 050801 and 080310, we found that their optical plateaus and the late X-ray/optical lightcurves can be explained with our model in reasonable parameter values. We suggest that such a chromatic optical plateau could be a signature of strong $e^\pm$ production in GRB afterglow jets. The TeV gamma-ray flux of such kind GRBs should be significantly reduced, hence tends to be detectable for those GRBs that have a single power-law decaying optical afterglow lightcurve.
Comments: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Subjects: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
Cite as: arXiv:2404.14283 [astro-ph.HE]
  (or arXiv:2404.14283v1 [astro-ph.HE] for this version)

Submission history

From: Xiaoli Huang [view email]
[v1] Mon, 22 Apr 2024 15:32:42 GMT (498kb)

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