Radiative Transfer Models for Gamma-Ray Bursts

TL;DR

This paper develops comprehensive radiative transfer models for relativistic jets in gamma-ray bursts, successfully fitting observed spectra and estimating key jet parameters like magnetization and Lorentz factor.

Contribution

It introduces detailed radiative transfer simulations that incorporate all relevant processes, providing a new method to analyze GRB spectra and infer jet properties.

Findings

Good spectral fits for three GRBs with diverse spectra

Estimated jet magnetization parameter $oldsymbol{ ext{ε}_B}$ between 0.01 and 0.05

Estimated Lorentz factor $oldsymbol{ ext{Γ}}$ between 400 and 1200

Abstract

We present global radiative transfer models for heated relativistic jets. The simulations include all relevant radiative processes, starting deep in the opaque zone and following the evolution of radiation to and beyond the photosphere of the jet. The transfer models are compared with three gamma-ray bursts GRB 990123, GRB 090902B, and GRB 130427A, which have well-measured and different spectra. The models provide good fits to the observed spectra in all three cases, and we obtain estimates for the jet magnetization parameter $\varepsilon_{\rm B}$ and the Lorentz factor $\Gamma$. In the small sample of three bursts, $\varepsilon_{\rm B}$ varies between 0.01 and 0.05, and $\Gamma$ varies between 400 and 1200.