High-energy afterglow emission from gamma-ray bursts
Abstract
We calculate the very high-energy (sub-GeV to TeV) inverse Compton emission of GRB afterglows. We argue that this emission provides a powerful test of the currently accepted afterglow model. We focus on two processes: synchrotron self-Compton emission within the afterglow blast wave, and external inverse Compton emission which occurs when flare photons (produced by an internal process) pass through the blast wave. We show that if our current interpretations of the Swift X-ray telescope (XRT) data are correct, there should be a canonical high-energy afterglow emission light curve. Our predictions can be tested with high-energy observatories such as GLAST, Whipple, HESS and MAGIC. Under favourable conditions we expect afterglow detections in all these detectors.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- March 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12765.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0704.2063
- Bibcode:
- 2008MNRAS.384.1483F
- Keywords:
-
- radiation mechanisms: non-thermal;
- ISM: jets and outflows;
- gamma rays: bursts;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 15 pages, 15 eps figures and 1 table, slightly modified version to appear in MNRAS. Fig.12 is added to illustrate the difference of the EIC emission lightcurves with and without the anisotropic correction in the comoving frame of the blast wave