Echo Emission from Dust Scattering and X-Ray Afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts

Thumbnail Image

Files

0711.3800.pdf (1.01 MB)

Links to Files

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/527047

Permanent Link

https://doi.org/10.1086/527047
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/19596

Collections

UMBC Physics Department
UMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST) / Center for Research and Exploration in Space Sciences & Technology II (CRSST II)
UMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET)

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2007-11-23

Type of Work

journal articles preprints
Text

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

L. Shao, Z. G. Dai and N. Mirabal, Echo Emission from Dust Scattering and X-Ray Afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts, ApJ 675 507 (2008), doi: https://doi.org/10.1086/527047

Rights

This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
© 2008. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Subjects

Abstract

We investigate the effect of X-ray echo emission in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We find that the echo emission can provide an alternative way of understanding X-ray shallow decays and jet breaks. In particular, a shallow decay followed by a "normal" decay and a further rapid decay of X-ray afterglows can together be explained as being due to the echo from prompt X-ray emission scattered by dust grains in a massive wind bubble around a GRB progenitor. We also introduce an extra temporal break in the X-ray echo emission. By fitting the afterglow light curves, we can measure the locations of the massive wind bubbles, which will bring us closer to finding the mass-loss rate, wind velocity, and age of the progenitors prior to the GRB explosions.