Light Curves of GRB Optical Flashes.pdf

a r X i v : a s t r o - p h / 0 0 0 9 3 1 9 v 1 2 0 S e p 2 0 0 0 Light Curves of GRB Optical Flashes Shiho Kobayashi Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka 560, Japan ABSTRACT The standard model of GRB afterglows assumes that relativistically expanding material is decelerating due to interaction with the surrounding medium. The afterglows are well described by the synchrotron radiation from a forward shock, while the strong optical flash associated with GRB 990123 can be attributed to the emission from a reverse shock. We give a detailed study on the reverse shock emission. The full light curves are calculated for a long and a short GRB cases. We discuss the lack of the prompt optical detections by ROTSE for GRB 981121 and GRB 981223. Subject headings: gamma rays: bursts; hydrodynamics; shock waves; relativity 1. Introduction The gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow is believed to involve a relativistically expanding fireball. The surrounding matter, which we will refer to as the ISM, influences the fireball shell after it has been collected enough and the considerable energy has been transferred from the shell to the ISM. The energy transfer is due to two shocks: a forward shock propagating into the ISM and a reverse shock propagating into the shell. The afterglow observations are fairly well described by the synchrotron emission from the ISM electrons accelerated by the forward shock, it is considered as a confirmation of the relativistic fireball. However, the current afterglow observations detect the radiation from several hours after the GRBs. At this stage, the Lorentz factor of the forward shock is not ultra-relativistic, less than ～ 10. Furthermore, the dynamics depends only on two parameters: the explosion energy and the ISM density. The afterglow observations provide neither verification of the extreme relativistic motion nor the properties of the fireball which can constrain models of the GRB source. The counterpart of the afte