Gamma-Ray Bursts: What Do We Know Today That We Did Not Know 10 Years Ago?

I discuss here the progress made in the last decade on a few of the key open problems in GRB physics. These include (1) the nature of GRB progenitors, and the outliers found to the collapsar/merger scenarios; (2) jet structures, whose existence became evident following GRB/GW170817; (3) the great progress made in understanding the GRB jet launching mechanisms, enabled by general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GR-MHD) codes; (4) recent studies of magnetic reconnection as a valid energy dissipation mechanism; (5) the early afterglow, which may be highly affected by a wind bubble, as well as recent indication that in many GRBs, the Lorentz factor is only a few tens, rather than a few hundreds. I highlight some recent observational progress, including the major breakthrough in detecting TeV photons and the on-going debate about their origin, polarization measurements, as well as the pair annihilation line recently detected in GRB 221009A, and its implications for prompt emission physics. I probe into some open questions that I anticipate will be at the forefront of GRB research in the next decade.

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Publication Details

Journal
Galaxies
Published
2024-12-31
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies13010002
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.99
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article

Gamma-Ray Bursts: What Do We Know Today That We Did Not Know 10 Years Ago?

Asaf Pe’er
3 citations
Galaxies
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
0.99
article

Gamma-Ray Bursts: What Do We Know Today That We Did Not Know 10 Years Ago?

Asaf Pe’er
article en
3 citations

Abstract

I discuss here the progress made in the last decade on a few of the key open problems in GRB physics. These include (1) the nature of GRB progenitors, and the outliers found to the collapsar/merger scenarios; (2) jet structures, whose existence became evident following GRB/GW170817; (3) the great progress made in understanding the GRB jet launching mechanisms, enabled by general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GR-MHD) codes; (4) recent studies of magnetic reconnection as a valid energy dissipation mechanism; (5) the early afterglow, which may be highly affected by a wind bubble, as well as recent indication that in many GRBs, the Lorentz factor is only a few tens, rather than a few hundreds. I highlight some recent observational progress, including the major breakthrough in detecting TeV photons and the on-going debate about their origin, polarization measurements, as well as the pair annihilation line recently detected in GRB 221009A, and its implications for prompt emission physics. I probe into some open questions that I anticipate will be at the forefront of GRB research in the next decade.

GalaxiesVol. 13(1)
Bar-Ilan University (IL)
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 22%
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
0.99
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