An on-line library of afterglow light curves

TL;DR

This paper introduces an online library of synthetic gamma-ray burst afterglow light curves generated from high-resolution simulations, aiding interpretation and analysis of observational data across various physical parameters.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive, accessible database of simulated afterglow light curves and spectra for diverse physical scenarios, improving upon simplified analytical models.

Findings

Library covers a wide range of frequencies and timescales.

Simulations incorporate detailed hydrodynamics and synchrotron radiation.

Accessible online for use in observational data analysis.

Abstract

Numerical studies of gamma-ray burst afterglow jets reveal significant qualitative differences with simplified analytical models. We present an on-line library of synthetic afterglow light curves and broadband spectra for use in interpreting observational data. Light curves have been calculated for various physics settings such as explosion energy and circumburst structure, as well as differing jet parameters and observer angle and redshift. Calculations gave been done for observer frequencies ranging from low radio to X-ray and for observer times from hours to decades after the burst. The light curves have been calculated from high-resolution 2D hydrodynamical simulations performed with the RAM adaptive-mesh refinement code and a detailed synchrotron radiation code. The library will contain both generic afterglow simulations as well as specific case studies and will be freely accessible at http://cosmo.nyu.edu/afterglowlibrary . The synthetic light curves can be used as a check on the accuracy of physical parameters derived from analytical model fits to afterglow data, to quantitatively explore the consequences of varying parameters such as observer angle and for accurate predictions of future telescope data.