REVISITING THE EMISSION FROM RELATIVISTIC BLAST WAVES IN A DENSITY-JUMP MEDIUM

• Re-brightening bumps are frequently observed in gamma-ray burst afterglows. Many scenarios have been proposed to interpret the origin of these bumps, of which a blast wave encountering a density-jump in the circumburst environment has been questioned by recent works. We develop a set of differential equations to calculate the relativistic outflow encountering the density-jump by extending the work of Huang et al. This approach is a semi-analytic method and is very convenient. Our results show that late high-amplitude bumps cannot be produced under common conditions, rather only a short plateau may emerge even when the encounter occurs at an early time (< 10(4) s). In general, our results disfavor the density-jump origin for those observed bumps, which is consistent with the conclusion drawn from full hydrodynamics studies. The bumps thus should be caused by other scenarios.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

gamma-ray burst: general

hydrodynamics

radiation mechanisms: non-thermal

shock waves

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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