Re-born fireballs in Gamma-Ray Bursts.pdfVIP

a r X i v : 0 7 0 9 .1 9 4 5 v 1 [ a s t r o - p h ] 1 2 S e p 2 0 0 7 Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 000, 000–000 (0000) Printed 1 February 2008 (MN LATEX style file v2.2) Re–born fireballs in Gamma-Ray Bursts G. Ghisellini 1 , A. Celotti 2 , G. Ghirlanda 1 , C. Firmani 1,3 , L. Nava 1,4 1 INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via E. Bianchi 46, I–23807 Merate, Italy 2 SISSA, via Beirut 2–4, I–34014 Trieste, Italy 3 Instituto de Astronom??a, U.N.A.M., A.P. 70-264, 04510, Me?xico, D.F., Me?xico 4 Universita? degli Studi dell’Insubria, Dipartimento di Fisica e Matematica, via Valleggio 11, I–22100 Como, Italy 1 February 2008 ABSTRACT We consider the interaction between a relativistic fireball and material assumed to be still located just outside the progenitor star. Only a small fraction of the expected mass is sufficient to efficiently decelerate the fireball, leading to dissipation of most of its kinetic energy. Since the scattering optical depths are still large at distances comparable to the progenitor radius, the dissipated energy is trapped in the system, accelerating it to relativistic velocities. The process resembles the birth of another fireball at radii R ～ 1011 cm, not far from the transparency radius, and with a starting bulk Lorentz factors Γc ～ 10. As seen in the observer frame, this “re–generated” fireball appears collimated within an angle θj = 1/Γc. If the central engine works intermittently, the funnel can, at least partially, refill and the process can repeat itself. We discuss how this idea can help solving some open issues of the more conventional internal shock scenario for interpreting the Gamma–Ray Burst properties. Key words: gamma rays: bursts, X–rays: general, radiation mechanisms: general. 1 INTRODUCTION The internal/external shock scenario (see e.g. Piran 2004; Meszaros 2006) is currently the leading model to explain the complex phe- nomenology of Gamma–Ray Bursts (GRBs) prompt and afterglow emission. Despite it can account for ma