Monte Carlo simulations of relativistic shock breakout from a stellar wind

TL;DR

This paper uses Monte Carlo simulations to study relativistic shock breakouts in stellar winds, revealing how pair production and photon escape influence shock structure, spectra, and observable signals in high-energy astrophysical events.

Contribution

It introduces detailed Monte Carlo simulations of relativistic radiation-mediated shocks with photon escape, providing new insights into shock structure and breakout observables at high Lorentz factors.

Findings

Pair production regulates downstream temperature to 100-200 keV.

Escaping spectra peak at 300-600 keV with specific spectral features.

Breakout duration is much longer than previous analytical estimates.

Abstract

We present Monte Carlo simulations of relativistic radiation-mediated shocks (RRMS) in the photon-starved regime, incorporating photon escape from the upstream region--characterized by the escape fraction, $f_{\rm esc}$--under a steady-state assumption. These simulations, performed for shock Lorentz factors $\Gamma_u = 2$, $3.5$, $6$, $10$, and $15$, are applicable to RRMS breakouts in shallowly declining density profiles such as stellar winds. We find that vigorous pair production acts as a thermostat, regulating the downstream temperature to $\sim 100$-$200~{\rm keV}$, largely independent of $f_{\rm esc}$. A subshock forms and strengthens with increasing $f_{\rm esc}$. The escaping spectra peak at $E_p \approx 300$-$600~{\rm keV}$ in the shock frame and deviate from a Wien distribution, exhibiting low-energy flattening ($f_\nu \propto \nu^{0}$) due to free-free emission and high-energy extensions caused by inverse Compton scattering from subshock-heated pairs. While an earlier analytical model reproduces the velocity structure well at $\Gamma_u = 2$, it significantly overestimates the shock width at higher Lorentz factors, particularly for $f_{\rm esc} \gtrsim$ a few $\%$. Based on this finding, we provide updated predictions for breakout observables in wind environments for $\Gamma_u \gtrsim 6$. Notably, the duration of the relativistic breakout becomes largely insensitive to the explosion energy and ejecta mass, typically exceeding analytical predictions by orders of magnitude and capable of producing a $\sim$300 s flash of MeV photons with a radiated energy of $\sim 10^{50}$ erg for an energetic explosion yielding $\Gamma_{bo} \sim 6$. We also discuss limitations of our modelling assumptions and their implications for the predicted breakout observables.