Nuclear Composition of Gamma‐Ray Burst Fireballs | Zendy

Andrei M. Beloborodov | Zendy

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Nuclear Composition of Gamma‐Ray Burst Fireballs

Author(s) -

Andrei M. Beloborodov

Publication year - 2003

Publication title -

the astrophysical journal

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376

H-Index - 489

eISSN - 1538-4357

pISSN - 0004-637X

DOI - 10.1086/374217

Subject(s) - physics , gamma ray burst , nucleosynthesis , spallation , nuclear physics , neutron , afterglow , neutrino , astrophysics , neutron emission , deuterium , observable , nucleon , neutron star , nuclear reaction , neutron temperature , quantum mechanics

We study three processes that shape the nuclear composition of GRB fireballs:(1) neutronization in the central engine, (2) nucleosynthesis in the fireballas it expands and cools, and (3) spallation of nuclei in subsequent internalshocks. The fireballs are found to have a neutron excess and a marginallysuccessful nucleosynthesis. They are composed of free nucleons,alpha-particles, and deuterium. A robust result is the survival of asignificant neutron component, which has important implications. First, asshown in previous works, neutrons can lead to observable multi-GeV neutrinoemission. Second, as we show in an accompanying paper, neutrons impact theexplosion dynamics at radii up to 10^{17} cm and change the mechanism of theGRB afterglow emission.Comment: 33 pages, accepted to Ap

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