The Connection between Gamma-Ray Bursts and Extremely Metal-Poor Stars as Nucleosynthetic Probes of the Early Universe
K. Nomoto, N. Tominaga, M. Tanaka, K. Maeda, H. Umeda
备注：
8 pages, 6 figures. To appear in "Massive Stars as Cosmic Engines", Proceedings of IAU Symposium 250 (December 2007, Kauai), eds. F. Bresolin, P.A. Crowther, & J. Puls (Cambridge Univ. Press)
The connection between the long GRBs and Type Ic Supernovae (SNe) has revealed the interesting diversity: (i) GRB-SNe, (ii) Non-GRB Hypernovae (HNe), (iii) X-Ray Flash (XRF)-SNe, and (iv) Non-SN GRBs (or dark HNe). We show that nucleosynthetic properties found in the above diversity are connected to the variation of the abundance patterns of extremely-metal-poor (EMP) stars, such as the excess of C, Co, Zn relative to Fe. We explain such a connection in a unified manner as nucleosynthesis of hyper-aspherical (jet-induced) explosions Pop III core-collapse SNe. We show that (1) the explosions with large energy deposition rate, $\dot{E}_{\rm dep}$, are observed as GRB-HNe and their yields can explain the abundances of normal EMP stars, and (2) the explosions with small $\dot{E}_{\rm dep}$ are observed as GRBs without bright SNe and can be responsible for the formation of the C-rich EMP (CEMP) and the hyper metal-poor (HMP) stars. We thus propose that GRB-HNe and the Non-SN GRBs (dark HNe) belong to a continuous series of BH-forming stellar deaths with the relativistic jets of different $\dot{E}_{\rm dep}$.
The "collapsar" engine for gamma-ray bursts invokes as its energy source the failure of a normal supernova and the formation of a black hole. Here we present the results of the first three-dimensional simulation of the collapse of a massive star down to a black hole, including the subsequent accretion and explosion. The explosion differs significantly from the axisymmetric scenario obtained in two-dimensional simulations; this has important consequences for the nucleosynthetic yields. We compare the nucleosynthetic yields to those of hypernovae. Calculating yields from three-dimensional explos…
We report on an investigation into stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis in the low and extremely low metallicity regime, including models of stars with a pure Big Bang composition (i.e. Z=0). The metallicity range of the extremely metal poor (EMP) models we have calculated is -6.5 < [Fe/H] < -3.0, whilst our models are in the mass range 0.85 < M < 3.0 Msun. Many of the EMP and Z=0 models experience violent evolutionary episodes not seen at higher metallicities. We refer to these events as `Dual Flashes' since they are characterised by peaks in the hydrogen and helium burning luminosities occu…
(Abridged) We determine the yields of Na to Ni for Type II supernovae (SNe II) and the yield patterns of the same elements for Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and very massive (>100 M_sun) stars (VMS) using a phenomenological model of stellar nucleosynthesis and the data on a number of stars with -4<[Fe/H]<-3, a single star with [Fe/H]=-2.04, and the sun. We consider that there are two distinct kinds of SNe II: the high-frequency SNe II(H) and the low-frequency SNe II(L). We also consider that VMS were the dominant first-generation stars formed from big bang debris. The yield patterns of Na to Ni …
The collapsar engine behind long-duration gamma-ray bursts extracts the energy released from the rapid accretion of a collapsing star onto a stellar-massed black hole. In a collapsing star, this black hole can form in two ways: the direct collapse of the stellar core into a black hole and the delayed collapse of a black hole caused by fallback in a weak supernova explosion. In the case of a delayed-collapse black hole, the strong collapsar-driven explosion overtakes the weak supernova explosion before shock breakout, and it is very difficult to distinguish this black hole formation scenario fr…
There have been a number of important recent developments in theoretical and observational studies of nucleosynthesis, especially regarding nucleosynthetic sources at low metallicities. Those selected for discussion here include the origin of Li6, the primary production of N, the s-process, and the supernova sources for three groups of metals: (1) C to Zn with mass numbers A<70, (2) Sr to Ag with A~90-110, and (3) r-process nuclei with A~130 and above.
The chemically most primitive stars provide constraints on the nature of the first stellar objects that formed in the Universe; elements other than hydrogen, helium and traces of lithium within these objects were generated by nucleosynthesis in the very first stars. The relative abundances of elements in the surviving primitive stars reflect the masses of the first stars, because the pathways of nucleosynthesis are quite sensitive to stellar masses. Several models have been suggested to explain the origin of the abundance pattern of the giant star HE 0107-5240, which hitherto exhibited the hig…
The fluorine abundance of the Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) star HE 1305+0132 has been derived by analysis of the molecular HF (1-0) R9 line at 2.3357 microns in a high-resolution (R = 50,000) spectrum obtained with the Phoenix spectrometer and Gemini-South telescope. Our abundance analysis makes use of a CNO-enhanced ATLAS12 model atmosphere characterized by a metallicity and CNO enhancements determined utilizing medium-resolution (R = 3,000) optical and near-IR spectra. The effective iron abundance is found to be [Fe/H] = -2.5, making HE 1305+0132 the most Fe-deficient star, by more than…
We discuss the serendipitous discovery of an extremely metal poor galaxy, SDSS 0809+1729, classified as a star in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The galaxy has a redshift z = 0.0441 and a B-band absolute magnitude M_B = -17.1. With a metallicity of log(O/H)+12~7.44 or ~1/20 solar, this galaxy is among the 10 most metal poor emission-line galaxies known. SDSS 0809+1729 is a blue compact galaxy (BCG) with a stellar age of ~4.5 Myr, a star formation rate of 0.18 Msun/yr, and a large gas-phase electron density ~367/cm^3. Similar values of these parameters are common among other extremely met…
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are thought to be connected to luminous and energetic supernovae (SNe), called hypernovae (HNe), resulting from the black-hole (BH) forming collapse of massive stars. For recent nearby GRBs~060505 and 060614, however, the expected SNe have not been detected. The upper limits to the SN brightness are about 100 times fainter than GRB-associated HNe (GRB-HNe), corresponding to the upper limits to the ejected $^{56}$Ni masses of $M({\rm ^{56}Ni})\sim 10^{-3}M_\odot$. SNe with a small amount of $^{56}$Ni ejection are observed as faint Type II SNe. HNe and faint…
Robust generation of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) implies the formation of outflows with very low baryon loads and highly relativistic velocities, but more baryon-rich, slower outflows are also likely to occur in most GRB central engine scenarios, either as ``circum-jet winds'' or ``failed GRBs''. Here we study the possibility of nucleosynthesis within such baryon-rich outflows by conducting detailed reaction network calculations in the framework of the basic fireball model. It is shown that high baryon load fireballs attaining mildly relativistic velocities can synthesize appreciable quantities of…
We investigate hydrodynamical and nucleosynthetic properties of the jet-induced explosion of a population III $40M_\odot$ star and compare the abundance patterns of the yields with those of the metal-poor stars. We conclude that (1) the ejection of Fe-peak products and the fallback of unprocessed materials can account for the abundance patterns of the extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars and that (2) the jet-induced explosion with different energy deposition rates can explain the diversity of the abundance patterns of the metal-poor stars. Furthermore, the abundance distribution after the explosio…
We review properties of the most metal-deficient globular clusters and halo stars in the local universe as of March 2001, with goals of examining present evidence for the duration of the initial burst of massive cluster formation in the Milky Way, determining when that burst occurred, and elucidating what appears to be limiting our present understanding. Such issues bear upon many topics to arise later in the Symposium.
We present magnesium abundances derived from high resolution spectra using several Mg I and two high excitation Mg II lines for 19 metal-poor stars with [Fe/H] values between -1.1 and +0.2. The main goal is to search for systematic differences in the derived abundances between the two ionisation state lines. Our analysis shows that the one-dimensional LTE and N-LTE study finds a very good agreement between these features. The [Mg/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] relationship derived, despite the small sample of stars, is also in agreement with the classical figure of increasing [Mg/Fe] with decreasing metallici…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are cosmologically distributed, very energetic and very transient sources detected in the gamma-ray domain. The identification of their x-ray and optical afterglows allowed so far the redshift measurement of 150 events, from z = 0.01 to z = 6.29. For about half of them, we have some knowledge of the properties of the parent galaxy. At high redshift (z > 2), absorption lines in the afterglow spectra give information on the cold interstellar medium in the host. At low redshift (z < 1.0) multi-band optical-NIR photometry and integrated spectroscopy reveal the GRB host gene…
We investigate the possibility to search for metal-poor high column density (> 10^{23} cm^{-2}) clouds at high redshift (z) by using gamma ray burst (GRB) afterglows. Such clouds could be related to primeval galaxies which may cause a burst of star formation. We show that a large part of hydrogen is in molecular form in such a high column density environment. Therefore, hydrogen molecules (H2) rather than hydrogen atoms should be searched for. Then we show that infrared H2 lines are detectable for metal-poor (< 0.01 solar metallicity) high column density (log NH [cm^{-2}] > 23.5) systems at hi…
New observations from the Hubble ultra deep field suggest that the star formation rate at z>7 drops off faster than previously thought. Using a newly determined star formation rate for the normal mode of Population II/I stars (PopII/I), including this new constraint, we compute the Thomson scattering optical depth and find a result that is marginally consistent with WMAP5 results. We also reconsider the role of Population III stars (PopIII) in light of cosmological and stellar evolution constraints. While this input may be needed for reionization, we show that it is essential in order to accou…
Recent models of rotating massive stars including magnetic fields prove it difficult for the cores of single stars to retain enough angular momentum to produce a collapsar and gamma-ray burst. At low metallicity, even very massive stars may retain a massive hydrogen envelope due to the weakness of the stellar winds, posing an additional obstacle to the collapsar model. Here, we consider the evolution of massive, magnetic stars where rapid rotation induces almost chemically homogeneous evolution. We find that in this case, the requirements of the collapsar model are rather easily fulfilled if t…
We have characterized the physical properties (electron temperature, density, metallicity) of the ionized gas and the ionizing population (age, metallicity, presence of WR stars) in the Lynx arc at z=3.36. This is a low metallicity (~10% solar) HII galaxy which is undergoing a burst of star formation of <5 Myr age. One possible scenario that explains the emission line spectrum of the Lynx arc, the large strength of the nitrogen lines and the HeII emission is that the object has experienced a merger event that has triggered a burst of star formation. WR stars have formed that contribute to a fa…
A toy model for gamma-ray burst-supernovae (GRB-SN) is discussed by considering the coexistence of baryon poor outflows from black holes (BHs) and a powerful spin-connection to surrounding disk, giving rise to consistent calorimetry as described by van Putten (2001a) in a variant of the Blandford-Znajek process (BZ, 1977). In this model the half-opening angle of the magnetic flux tube on the horizon is determined by the mapping relation between the angular coordinate on the BH horizon and the radial coordinate on the surrounding accretion disk. The GRB is powered by the baryon poor outflows in…
We report on detailed Monte Carlo inversion analysis of the Lyman limit system observed at z = 2.917 in the VLT/UVES spectrum of the quasar HE 0940-1050. Metal absorption lines of carbon and silicon in three ionization stages and numerous atomic hydrogen lines have been analyzed simultaneously. It is found that in order to match the observations, the shape of the ultraviolet background ionizing spectrum of Haardt & Madau (1996) should be modified: a spectrum with a higher intensity of the emission feature at 3 Ryd is required. It is also found that synthetic galactic spectra (or different mixt…
Cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are probably powered by systems harboring a rotating black hole. These may result from hypernovae or black hole-neutron star coalescence. We identify short/long bursts with hyper- and suspended-accretion states around slowly/rapidly spinning black holes. Baryon poor jets, as input to the observed GRB/afterglow emissions, may result from dissipation in a gap along an open flux-tube on the axis of rotation of the black hole. The torus is expected to radiate a major fraction of the black hole luminosity into gravitational waves, which suggests that long GRBs m…
We propose that the cosmological gamma ray bursts arise from the collapse of neutron stars to black holes triggered by collisions or mergers with main sequence stars. This scenario represents a cosmological history qualitatively different from most previous theories because it contains a significant contribution from an old stellar population, namely the globular clusters. Furthermore, the gas poor central regions of globular clusters provide an ideal environment for the generation of the recently confirmed afterglows via the fireball scenario. Collisions resulting from neutron star birth kick…
We report the serendipitous detection with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer of a long and peculiar X-ray burst whose localization is consistent with one known X-ray burster (GRS 1747-312) and which occurred when that source was otherwise quiescent. The peculiar feature concerns a strong radius expansion of the neutron star photosphere, which occurred not within a few seconds from the start of the burst, as is standard in radius-expansion bursts, but 20 s later. This suggests that two different layers of the neutron star may have undergone thermonuclear runaways: a hydrogen-rich and a hydrogen-p…
We study the dynamical and chemical evolution of a galaxy similar to IZw18 under the assumption of a continuous star formation during bursts. We adopt a 2-D hydrocode coupled with detailed chemical yields originating from SNeII, SNeIa and from single intermediate-mass stars. Different nucleosynthetic yields and different IMF slopes are tested. In most of the explored cases, a galactic wind develops, mostly carrying out of the galaxy the metal-enriched gas produced by the burst itself. The chemical species with the largest escape probabilities are Fe and N. Consequently, we predict that the [$α…
During the analysis of the INTEGRAL observatory archival data we found a powerful X-ray burst, registered by JEM-X and IBIS/ISGRI telescopes on April 16, 2005 from a weak and poorly known source AX J1754.2-2754. Analysis of the burst profiles and spectrum shows, that it was a type I burst, which result from thermonuclear explosion on the surface of nutron star. It means that we can consider AX J1754.2-2754 as an X-ray burster. Certain features of burst profile at its initial stage witness of a radiation presure driven strong expansion and a corresponding cooling of the nutron star photosphere.…
We have derived isotopic fractions of europium, samarium, and neodymium in two metal-poor giants with differing neutron-capture nucleosynthetic histories. These isotopic fractions were measured from new high resolution (R ~ 120,000), high signal-to-noise (S/N ~ 160-1000) spectra obtained with the 2dCoude spectrograph of McDonald Observatory's 2.7m Smith telescope. Synthetic spectra were generated using recent high-precision laboratory measurements of hyperfine and isotopic subcomponents of several transitions of these elements and matched quantitatively to the observed spectra. We interpret ou…
A model is developed for the confinement and collimation of a baryon poor outflow by its surrounding medium. Both, confinement by kinetic pressure of a static corona, and confinement by the ram pressure of a supersonic wind emanating from a disk surrounding the inner source are considered. Solutions are presented for the structure of the shocked layers of a deflected baryon poor jet (BPJ) and exterior wind. The dependence of the opening angle of the BPJ on the parameters of the confining medium are carefully examined. It is found that the BPJ shock may either converge to the symmetry axis or d…
The advent of m class telescopes has allowed the detailed spectroscopic study of sizeable numbers of extremely metal-poor Galactic stars which are the witnesses of the formation of the early Galaxy. Their chemical composition displays some distinctive trends which should provide a strong constraint on the physical nature of the first generation(s) of stars and on their nucleosynthetic output. I will review recent results in the field following the periodic table, from lithium to uranium and shortly comment on the intriguing classes of Carbon Enhanced Metal Poor (CEMP) stars, for many of which …
Cosmological gamma-ray bursts are probably powered by systems harboring a rotating black hole. We show that frame-dragging creates baryon-poor outflows in a differentially rotating gap along an open magnetic flux-tube with dissipation $P=Ω_T(Ω_H-2Ω_T)A_ϕ^2$, where $2πA_ϕ$ denotes the flux in the open tube, for angular velocities $Ω_H$ and $Ω_T$ of the black hole and the torus, respectively. The output in photon-pair outflow will be reprocessed in an intervening hypernova progenitor wind or the ISM.
We study the response of the gaseous component of a galactic disc to the time dependent potential generated by N-body simulations of a spiral galaxy. The results show significant variation of the spiral structure of the gas which might be expected to result in significant fluctuations in the Star Formation Rate (SFR). Pronounced local variations of the SFR are anticipated in all cases. Bursty histories for the global SFR, however, require that the mean surface density is much less (around an order of magnitude less) than the putative threshold for star formation. We thus suggest that bursty st…
A multivariate analysis of gamma-ray burst (GRB) bulk properties is presented to discriminate between distinct classes of GRBs. Several variables representing burst duration, fluence and spectral hardness are considered. Two multivariate clustering procedures are used on a sample of 797 bursts from the Third BATSE Catalog: a nonparametric average linkage hierarchical agglomerative clustering procedure validated with Wilks' $Λ^*$ and other MANOVA tests; and a parametric maximum likelihood model-based clustering procedure assuming multinormal populations calculated with the EM Algorithm and vali…
We examined the maximum bolometric peak luminosities during type I X-ray bursts from the persistent or transient luminous X-ray sources in globular clusters. We show that for about two thirds of the sources the maximum peak luminosities during photospheric radius expansion X-ray bursts extend to a critical value of (3.79+/-0.15)x10^{38} erg/s, assuming the total X-ray burst emission is entirely due to black-body radiation and the recorded maximum luminosity is the actual peak luminosity. This empirical critical luminosity is consistent with the Eddington luminosity limit for hydrogen poor mate…
We report the discovery of millisecond oscillations in an X-ray burst from the X-ray transient SAX J1748.9-2021 in the globular cluster NGC 6440. Oscillations at a frequency of 409.7 +/- 0.3 Hz were present in one of nine X-ray bursts observed with the Proportional Counter Array on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer during the outburst which occurred in 2001. The burst was one of the two dimmest and had the longest duration and decay time. The average peak luminosity of two bursts showing radius expansion is (3.6 +/- 0.4) x 10^38 erg/s, consistent with the Eddington luminosity for a 1.4 solar mas…
Nucleosynthetic signatures in common between the gas responsible for the high redshift Lyman alpha forest and a subsample of extremely metal poor stars are found. A simple mass loss model of chemical evolution with physically motivated parameters provides a consistent picture in which the gas is identified with that lost by supernova-driven winds during the first generation of star formation. Substantial mass loss occurs which can account for a diffuse IGM with up to 80% of the total baryon content and a peak [C-O/H] abundance of \~-2.9. This mass loss component differs from one produced later…
We demonstrate a successful strategy for identifying extremely metal poor galaxies. Our preliminary survey of 24 candidates contains 10 metal poor galaxies of which 4 have 12+log(O/H)<7.65, some of the lowest metallicity blue compact galaxies known to date. Interestingly, our sample of metal poor galaxies have systematically lower metallicity for their luminosity than comparable samples of blue compact galaxies, dIrrs, and normal star-forming galaxies. Our metal poor galaxies share very similar properties, however, with the host galaxies of nearby long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), includi…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) must originate from low baryon load, ultrarelativistic outflows; however, slower, more baryon-rich outflows (BROs) should also arise in connection with GRBs as ``circum-jet winds'' and/or ``failed GRBs''. We study the possibility of nucleosynthesis within such BROs by conducting detailed reaction network calculations in the framework of the fireball model, showing that they can be interesting sites for synthesis of heavy neutron capture elements, as well as of light elements such as deuterium. These products may be observable in the companion stars of black hole binary …
Be abundances of old, low metallicity halo stars have major implications on cosmic-ray origin, requiring acceleration out of fresh supernova ejecta. The observed, essentially constant Be/Fe fixes the Be production per SNII, allowing the determination of the energy supplied to cosmic rays per SNII. The results rule out acceleration out of the metal-poor ISM, and favor Be production at all epochs of Galactic evolution by cosmic rays having the same spectrum and source composition as those at the current epoch. Individual supernova acceleration of its own nucleosynthetic products and the collecti…
The gamma ray burst (GRB) 980425 is distinctive in that it seems to be associated with supernova (SN) 1998bw, has no X-ray afterglow, and has a single peak light curve and a soft spectrum. The supernova is itself unusual in that its expansion velocity exceeds c/6. We suggest that many of these features can be accounted for with the hypothesis that we observe the GRB along a penumbral line of sight that contains mainly photons that have scattered off ejected baryons. The hypothesis suggests a baryon poor jet (BPJ) existing within a baryon rich outflow. The sharp distinction can be attributed to…
Current phenomenology suggests the presence of a compact baryon-poor energy source to cosmological gamma-ray bursts reacting to high-density matter. The association of short and long gamma-ray bursts with hyper- and suspended accretion onto slowly and rapidly spinning black holes predicts weak X-ray afterglow emissions from short bursts, as in GRB050509B and GRB050709. Long gamma-ray bursts are probably the birth place of rapidly spinning high-mass black holes in core-collapse of massive stars, as in GRB030329 with supernova SN2003dh. This predicts a long-duration burst of gravitational radiat…
The luminosity distance vs. redshift law is now measured using supernovae and gamma ray bursts, and the angular size distance is measured at the surface of last scattering by the CMB and at z = 0.35 by baryon acoustic oscillations. In this paper this data is fit to models for the equation of state with w = -1, w = const, and w(z) = w_0+w_a(1-a). The last model is poorly constrained by the distance data, leading to unphysical solutions where the dark energy dominates at early times unless the large scale structure and acoustic scale constraints are modified to allow for early time dark energy e…
Correlation studies of prompt and afterglow emissions from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) between different spectral bands has been difficult to do in the past because few bursts had comprehensive and intercomparable afterglow measurements. In this paper we present a large and uniform data set for correlation analysis based on bursts detected by the Swift mission. For the first time, short and long bursts can be analyzed and compared. It is found for both classes that the optical, X-ray and gamma-ray emissions are linearly correlated, but with a large spread about the correlation line; stronger burst…
The energy requirements of gamma ray bursts have in past been poorly constrained because of three major uncertainties: The distances to bursts, the degree of burst beaming, and the efficiency of gamma ray production. The first of these has been resolved, with both indirect evidence (the distribution of bursts in flux and position) and direct evidence (redshifted absorption features in the afterglow spectrum of GRB 970508) pointing to cosmological distances. We now wish to address the second uncertainty. Afterglows allow a statistical test of beaming, described in an earlier paper. In this pape…
We investigate the radiative transport of dust in primordial galaxies in the presence of the UV radiation field from the first metal-free stars. We find that dust created in the first supernova (SN) explosions can be driven through the interior of the SN remnant to accumulate in the SN shells, where second-generation stars may form from compressed cooling gas. This scenario requires metal-free stars to form continuously over timescales of up to 10 Myr, consistent with recent estimates. Silicate and graphite grains, as well as iron-bearing magnetites, are transported to the shells for reasonabl…
The spin-energy $E_{rot}$ of a Kerr black hole surrounded by a torus may power emissions in multiple windows. The recently determined true GRB-energy of $3-5\times 10^{50}$ erg indicates a minor fraction $E_j/E_{rot}\simeq 0.1%$ in baryon poor ouput, here considered as jets along open magnetic flux-tubes from the horizon to infinity. A major fraction $E_{gw}/E_{rot}\simeq 5%$ is expected in gravitational radiation from the torus. A LIGO/VIRGO detection of $α=2π\int fdE_{gw}$ in excess of the neutron star limit $α^*\simeq 0.005$ promises a calorimetric test for Kerr black holes. We expect a sam…
Although it is well recognized that gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows are obscured and reddened by dust in their host galaxies, the wavelength-dependence and quantity of dust extinction are still poorly known. Current studies on this mostly rely on fitting the afterglow spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with template extinction models. The inferred extinction (both quantity and wavelength-dependence) and dust-to-gas ratios are often in disagreement with that obtained from dust depletion and X-ray spectroscopy studies. We argue that this discrepancy could result from the prior assumption of a…
We examine the width of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) luminosity function through the distribution of GRB peak count rates, C$_{\rm{peak}}$, as detected by BATSE (\cite{batse:93}). In the context of galactic corona spatial distribution models, we attempt to place constraints on the characteristic width of the luminosity function by comparing the observed intensity distribution with those produced by a range of density and luminosity functions. We find that the intrinsic width of the luminosity function cannot be very well restricted. However, the distribution of intrinsic luminosities of {\it dete…
We present results from axisymmetric, time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the collapsar model for gamma-ray bursts. We begin the simulations after the 1.7 MSUN iron core of a 25 MSUN presupernova star has collapsed and study the ensuing accretion of the 7 MSUN helium envelope onto the central black hole formed by the collapsed iron core. We consider a spherically symmetric progenitor model, but with spherical symmetry broken by the introduction of a small, latitude-dependent angular momentum and a weak radial magnetic field. Our MHD simulations include a realistic equation …
Despite the growing evidence that long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are associated with deaths of Wolf-Rayet stars, the evolutionary path of massive stars to GRBs and the exact nature of GRB progenitors remained poorly known. However, recent massive star evolutionary models indicate that -- for sufficiently low metallicity -- initially very rapidly rotating stars can satisfy the conditions for collapsar formation. Even though magnetic torques are included in these models, a strong core spin-down is avoided through quasi-chemically homogeneous evolution induced by rotational mixing. Here, we explore…
Evolution of the coalescence rate of double neutron stars (NS) and neutron star -- black hole (BH) binaries are computed for model galaxies with different star formation rates. Assuming gamma-ray bursts (GRB) to originate from NS+NS or NS+BH merging in distant galaxies, theoretical logN--logS distributions and <V/V_max> tests of gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are calculated for the first time taking the computed merging rates into account. We use a flat cosmological model (Omega=1) with different values of the cosmological constant Lambda and under various assumptions about the star formation history …
Dust in the host galaxies of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) dims and reddens their afterglow spectra. Knowledge of the nature of this dust is crucial for correcting for extinction, providing clues to the nature of GRB progenitors, and probing the interstellar medium of high-redshift galaxies as well as the nature of cosmic dust when the universe was much younger and galaxies were much less evolved. The dust and extinction properties of GRB host galaxies are still poorly known. Unlike previous work, we derive in this Letter the extinction curves for 10 GRB host galaxies without a priori assumption of …
Superbursts are very energetic Type I X-ray bursts discovered in recent years by long term monitoring of X-ray bursters, believed to be due to unstable ignition of carbon in the deep ocean of the neutron star. A number of "intermediate duration" bursts have also been observed, probably associated with ignition of a thick helium layer. We investigate the sensitivity of these long X-ray bursts to the thermal profile of the neutron star crust and core. We first compare cooling models of superburst lightcurves with observations, and derive constraints on the ignition mass and energy release, and t…
It is demonstrated here that if the prompt GRB emission is produced by the simplest version of the external shock model, a specific relation should prevail between the observed duration, isotropic equivalent energy, and photon peak energy. In essence, this relation arises because both the burst duration and the typical energy of the emitted synchrotron photons depend on the same combination of the, usually poorly constrained, external density at the deceleration radius, $n_{dec}$, and initial bulk Lorentz factor, $Γ_0$. This has the fortunate consequence of making the relation independent of b…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are believed to originate from ultra-relativistic winds/fireballs to avoid the "compactness problem". However, the most energetic photons in GRBs may still suffer from $γ-γ$ absorption leading to electron/positron pair production in the winds/fireballs. We show here that in a wide range of model parameters, the resulting pairs may dominate those electrons associated with baryons. Later on, the pairs would be carried into a reverse shock so that a shocked pair-rich fireball may produce a strong flash at lower frequencies, i.e. in the IR band, in contrast with optical/UV …
We give an update on our 0Z Survey to find more extremely metal poor (EMP) stars with [Fe/H] < -3 dex through mining the database of the Hamburg/ESO Survey. We present the most extreme such stars we have found from ~1550 moderate resolution follow up spectra. One of these, HE1424-0241, has highly anomalous abundance ratios not seen in any previously known halo giant, with very deficient Si, moderately deficient Ca and Ti, highly enhanced Mn and Co, and low C, all with respect to Fe. We suggest a SNII where the nucleosynthetic yield for explosive alpha-burning nuclei was very low compared to th…
We discuss our ongoing program of Target of Opportunity (ToO) sub-millimeter observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) using the Sub-millimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). In this paper, we present the ToO observations of GRBs 021004, 021211, 030115, 030226, and 041006. The observations of GRBs 021004, 021211, 030226, and 041006 all started within ~1 day of the burst, but did not detect any significant sub-millimeter emission from the reverse shock and/or afterglow. These observations put some constraints on the models for the early emission, …
Very high energy, short wavelength, neutrinos may interact with the space-time foam predicted by theories of quantum gravity. They would propagate like light through a crystal lattice and be delayed, with the delay depending on the energy. This will appear to the observer as a violation of Lorenz invariance. Back of the envelope calculations imply that observations of neutrinos produced by gamma ray bursts may reach Planck-scale sensitivity. We revisit the problem considering two essential complications: the imprecise timing of the neutrinos associated with their poorly understood production m…
Black holes surrounded by a disk or torus may drive the enigmatic cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Equivalence in poloidal topology to pulsar magnetospheres shows a high incidence of the black hole-luminosity $L_H$ into the surrounding magnetized matter. We argue that this emission is re-radiated into gravitational waves at $L_{GW}\simeq L_H/3$ in frequencies of order 1kHz, winds and, potentially, MeV neutrinos. The total energy budget and input to the GRB from baryon poor jets are expected to be standard in this scenario, consistent with recent analysis of afterglow data. Collimation of …
