경희대학교 BK21

아래와 같이 세미나를 진행하오니
관심있는 분들의 많은 참여를 바랍니다.

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● 날짜 : 2014년 08월 13일 (목요일)
● 시간 : 오후 4시 30분
● 장소 : 천문대 영상실
● 강사 : Dr. Lucas Uhm, Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University
● 주제 : Radiation Mechanism of Gamma-ray Burst Prompt Emission and Afterglow

Abstract
Even after more than 45 years of their discovery in late 1960s, the radiation mechanism of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) remains unclear. Since the main component of GRB prompt emission in sub-MeV energy range exhibits a non-thermal nature with a smoothly-joined broken power-law spectral shape ("Band function"), the synchrotron radiation of relativistic electrons in the emitting region has been put forward as the leading mechanism that powers GRBs. However, it was soon realized that the standard synchrotron spectrum in the fast-cooling regime is not consistent with the observed low-energy spectral index of prompt emission spectra, and as a result, the synchrotron mechanism has been disfavored and other photospheric models were invoked for the prompt emission. Under these circumstances, a theoretical breakthrough in understanding the GRB radiation mechanism is recently made on the synchrotron side. It is shown that, when the magnetic field strength in the emitting region decreases in time, the fast-cooling synchrotron spectrum is in fact in a non-steady state and becomes significantly harder than the "standard" one, becoming well consistent with the observed low-energy index. This new physics of synchrotron cooling of relativistic electrons also applies to the GRB afterglow phase where the magnetic field strength in the shocked region naturally decreases as the blast wave propagates through the surrounding ambient medium. Recent theoretical developments made on the blast wave dynamics and afterglow modeling will also be presented for generic models with various density structures in the ejecta and ambient medium.