A wind environment and Lorentz factors of tens explain gamma-ray bursts X-ray plateau

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the early X-ray plateau in gamma-ray bursts can be explained by a classical fireball model with lower initial Lorentz factors of a few tens expanding into a wind medium, broadening the understanding of jet speeds.

Contribution

It introduces a model where GRB jets have lower Lorentz factors than previously thought, explaining the X-ray plateau within the classical fireball framework.

Findings

The X-ray plateau is explained by Lorentz factors of a few tens.

GRB jets have a wider Lorentz factor range, bridging AGN and extreme GRBs.

Progenitor stars may differ from Wolf-Rayet stars or have different wind properties.

Abstract

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are known to have the most relativistic jets, with initial Lorentz factors in the order of a few hundreds. Many GRBs display an early X-ray light-curve plateau, which was not theoretically expected and therefore puzzled the community for many years. Here, we show that this observed signal is naturally obtained within the classical GRB "fireball" model, provided that the initial Lorentz factor is rather a few tens, and the expansion occurs into a medium-low density "wind". The range of Lorentz factors in GRB jets is thus much wider than previously thought and bridges an observational gap between mildly relativistic jets inferred in active galactic nuclei, to highly relativistic jets deduced in few extreme GRBs. Furthermore, long GRB progenitors are either not Wolf-Rayet stars, or the wind properties during the final stellar evolution phase are different than at earlier times. We discuss several testable predictions of this model.