Reverse Shock Emission from Misaligned Structured Jets in Gamma-Ray Bursts

The afterglow of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been extensively discussed in the context of shocks generated during an interaction of relativistic outflows with their ambient medium. This process leads to the formation of both a forward and a reverse shock. While the emission from the forward shock, o...

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Main Authors: Sen-Lin Pang, Zi-Gao Dai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2024-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9007
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author Sen-Lin Pang
Zi-Gao Dai
author_facet Sen-Lin Pang
Zi-Gao Dai
author_sort Sen-Lin Pang
collection DOAJ
description The afterglow of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been extensively discussed in the context of shocks generated during an interaction of relativistic outflows with their ambient medium. This process leads to the formation of both a forward and a reverse shock. While the emission from the forward shock, observed off-axis, has been well-studied as a potential electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational-wave-detected merger, the contribution of the reverse shock is commonly overlooked. In this paper, we investigate the contribution of the reverse shock to the GRB afterglows observed off-axis. In our analysis, we consider jets with different angular profiles, including two-component jets, power-law structured jets, Gaussian jets, and “mixed jets” featuring a Poynting-flux-dominated core surrounded by a baryonic wing. We apply our model to GRB 170817A/GW170817 and employ the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to obtain model parameters. Our findings suggest that the reverse shock emission can significantly contribute to the early afterglow. In addition, our calculations indicate that the light curves observable in future off-axis GRBs may exhibit either double peaks or a single peak with a prominent feature, depending on the jet structure, viewing angle, and microphysics shock parameters.
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spelling doaj-art-6fcd6043cf98473d9e89c94bcfb524972025-08-20T01:55:15ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572024-01-01977112310.3847/1538-4357/ad9007Reverse Shock Emission from Misaligned Structured Jets in Gamma-Ray BurstsSen-Lin Pang0https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0137-2650Zi-Gao Dai1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7835-8585Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China ; daizg@ustc.edu.cnDepartment of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China ; daizg@ustc.edu.cn; School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of ChinaThe afterglow of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been extensively discussed in the context of shocks generated during an interaction of relativistic outflows with their ambient medium. This process leads to the formation of both a forward and a reverse shock. While the emission from the forward shock, observed off-axis, has been well-studied as a potential electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational-wave-detected merger, the contribution of the reverse shock is commonly overlooked. In this paper, we investigate the contribution of the reverse shock to the GRB afterglows observed off-axis. In our analysis, we consider jets with different angular profiles, including two-component jets, power-law structured jets, Gaussian jets, and “mixed jets” featuring a Poynting-flux-dominated core surrounded by a baryonic wing. We apply our model to GRB 170817A/GW170817 and employ the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to obtain model parameters. Our findings suggest that the reverse shock emission can significantly contribute to the early afterglow. In addition, our calculations indicate that the light curves observable in future off-axis GRBs may exhibit either double peaks or a single peak with a prominent feature, depending on the jet structure, viewing angle, and microphysics shock parameters.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9007Gamma-ray burstsRelativistic jetsNon-thermal radiation sources
spellingShingle Sen-Lin Pang
Zi-Gao Dai
Reverse Shock Emission from Misaligned Structured Jets in Gamma-Ray Bursts
The Astrophysical Journal
Gamma-ray bursts
Relativistic jets
Non-thermal radiation sources
title Reverse Shock Emission from Misaligned Structured Jets in Gamma-Ray Bursts
title_full Reverse Shock Emission from Misaligned Structured Jets in Gamma-Ray Bursts
title_fullStr Reverse Shock Emission from Misaligned Structured Jets in Gamma-Ray Bursts
title_full_unstemmed Reverse Shock Emission from Misaligned Structured Jets in Gamma-Ray Bursts
title_short Reverse Shock Emission from Misaligned Structured Jets in Gamma-Ray Bursts
title_sort reverse shock emission from misaligned structured jets in gamma ray bursts
topic Gamma-ray bursts
Relativistic jets
Non-thermal radiation sources
url https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9007
work_keys_str_mv AT senlinpang reverseshockemissionfrommisalignedstructuredjetsingammaraybursts
AT zigaodai reverseshockemissionfrommisalignedstructuredjetsingammaraybursts