High Lorentz Factor Research Articles

An X-ray IMAGING SURVEY OF QUASAR JETS: TESTING THE INVERSE COMPTON MODEL

We present results from continued Chandra X-ray imaging and spectroscopy of a flux-limited sample of flat spectrum radio-emitting quasars with jet-like extended structure. X-rays are detected from 24 of the 39 jets observed so far. We compute the distribution of alpha_rx, the spectral index between the X-ray and radio bands, showing that it is broad, extending at least from 0.8 to 1.2. While there is a general trend that the radio brightest jets are detected most often, it is clear that predicting the X-ray flux from the radio knot flux densities is risky so a shallow X-ray survey is the most effective means for finding jets that are X-ray bright. We test the model in which the X-rays result from inverse Compton (IC) scattering of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons by relativistic electrons in the jet moving with high bulk Lorentz factor nearly along the line of sight. Depending on how the jet magnetic fields vary with z, the observed X-ray to radio flux ratios do not follow the redshift dependence expected from the IC-CMB model. For a subset of our sample with known superluminal motion based on VLBI observations, we estimate the angle of the kpc-scale jet to the line of sight by considering the additional information in the bends observed between pc- and kpc-scale jets. These angles are sometimes much smaller than estimates based on the IC-CMB model with a Lorentz factor of 15, indicating that these jets may decelerate significantly from pc scales to kpc scales.

CHARGE-STARVED, RELATIVISTIC JETS AND BLAZAR VARIABILITY

High energy emission from blazars is thought to arise in a relativistic jet launched by a supermassive black hole. The emission site must be far from the hole and the jet relativistic, in order to avoid absorption of the photons. In extreme cases, rapid variability of the emission suggests that structures of length-scale smaller than the gravitational radius of the central black hole are imprinted on the jet as it is launched, and modulate the radiation released after it has been accelerated to high Lorentz factor. We propose a mechanism which can account for the acceleration of the jet, and for the rapid variability of the radiation, based on the propagation characteristics of large-amplitude waves in charge-starved, polar jets. Using a two-fluid (electron-positron) description, we find the outflows exhibit a delayed acceleration phase, that starts at roughly 1pc, where the inertia associated with the wave currents becomes important. The time-structure imprinted on the jet at launch modulates photons produced by the accelerating jet provided the pair multiplicity in the black-hole magnetosphere is sufficiently small, suggesting that very rapid variability is confined to sources in which the electromagnetic cascade in the black-hole magnetosphere is not prolific.

MONSTER IN THE DARK: THE ULTRALUMINOUS GRB 080607 AND ITS DUSTY ENVIRONMENT

We present early-time optical through infrared photometry of the bright gamma-ray burst GRB 080607, starting only 6 s following the initial trigger in the rest frame. Complemented by our previously published spectroscopy, this high-quality photometric dataset allows us to solve for the extinction properties of the redshift 3.036 sightline, giving perhaps the most detailed information on the ultraviolet continuum absorption properties of any sightline outside our Local Group to date. The extinction properties are not adequately modeled by any ordinary extinction template (including the average Milky Way, Large Magellanic Cloud, and Small Magellanic Cloud curves), partially because the 2175-Angstrom feature (while present) is weaker by about a factor of two than when seen under similar circumstances locally. However, the spectral energy distribution is exquisitely fitted by the more general Fitzpatrick & Massa (1990) parameterization of Local-Group extinction, putting it in the same family as some peculiar Milky Way extinction curves. After correcting for this (considerable, A_V = 3.3 +/- 0.4 mag) extinction, GRB 080607 is revealed to have been among the most optically luminous events ever observed, comparable to the naked-eye burst GRB 080319B. Its early peak time (t_rest < 6 s) indicates a high initial Lorentz factor (Gamma > 600), while the extreme luminosity may be explained in part by a large circumburst density. Only because of its early high luminosity could the afterglow of GRB 080607 be studied in such detail in spite of the large attenuation and great distance, making this burst an excellent prototype for the understanding of other highly obscured extragalactic objects, and of the class of "dark" GRBs in particular.

TeV gamma ray opacity in PKS 2155-304

Context. Recently observed rapid time variability in the gamma ray emission from the blazar PKS 2155-304 indicates that either the site of gamma ray emission is close to the black hole or the jet has a very high Lorentz factor. Consideration of the opacity of gamma rays close to the black hole provides additional information related to these two possibilities. Aims. We investigate the TeV gamma ray opacity resulting from pair production on soft photons radiated by the black hole accretion disk, considering situations where the radiation produced by the disk is close to that predicted by the Shakura-Sunyaev model and situations where the disk radiation is much less. Methods. We utilise expressions for the pair opacity of very high energy gamma rays developed by Gould and Schreder and Donea and Protheroe and use expressions for the disk radiation field produced by an accretion disk external to a Poynting flux dominated jet. A lower level of disk emission is modelled by using the spectrum corresponding to a lower accretion rate. We also consider changes in the shape of the gamma ray sepctrum as a flare emerges from the optically thick region. Results. If the gravitational power resulting from accretion is dissipated by radiation in the region of the disk external to the jet, then TeV gamma rays are opaque out to of order 40 gravitational radii ≈6 x 10 15 cm from the black hole. However, the opacity is considerably reduced if the disk radiates a negligible amount of gravitational power as would be the case if there is a significant disk wind external to the jet. In either case the absence of spectral changes during observed flares excludes scenarios in which the TeV gamma rays are emitted even in regions of modest pair opacity.

RESOLVING DOPPLER-FACTOR CRISIS IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI: NON-STEADY MAGNETIZED OUTFLOWS

Magnetically-driven non-stationary acceleration of jets in AGNs results in the leading parts of the flow been accelerated to much higher Lorentz factors than in the case of steady state acceleration with the same parameters. The higher Doppler-boosted parts of the flow may dominate the high energy emission of blazar jets. We suggest that highly variable GeV and TeV emission in blazars is produced by the faster moving leading edges of highly magnetized non-stationary ejection blobs, while the radio data trace the slower-moving bulk flow. Model predictions compare favorably with the latest Fermi gamma-ray and MOJAVE radio VLBI results.

Waves in Poynting-flux dominated jets

AbstractHigh-energy emission from blazars is thought to arise in a relativistic jet launched by a supermassive black hole. The rapid variability of the emission suggests that structure of length scale smaller than the gravitational radius of the central black hole is imprinted on the jet as it is launched, and modulates the radiation released after it has been accelerated to high Lorentz factor. We describe a mechanism which can account for the acceleration of the jet, and for the rapid variability of the radiation, based on the propagation characteristics of nonlinear waves in charge-starved, polar jets. These exhibit a delayed acceleration phase, that kicks-in when the inertia associated with the wave currents becomes important. The time structure imprinted on the jet at launch modulates the photons produced by the accelerating jet provided that the electromagnetic cascade in the black-hole magnetosphere is not prolific.

Very High Lorentz Factor Fireballs and Gamma-Ray Burst Spectra

Collisionless entrainment of the surrounding matter imports the relativistic baryon component in the Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) fireball frame. We show that half the fireball energy can be transferred from radiation to the comoving hot motions of baryons under the photosphere. The yet baryon-poor fireball can reexpand to a very high Lorentz factor (VHLF) \Gamma ~ 10^3-10^6 by its own relativistic collisionless pressure beyond the photosphere (so-called collisionless bulk acceleration), leading to internal and external shocks. A simple synchrotron emission from the VHLF internal shocks produces (i) the extra power-law spectral component with variability observed in the Fermi GeV bursts, up to the TeV range for the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), (ii) the GeV onset delay with a weak luminosity dependence t_{delay} ~ L^{-1/5}, and (iii) the spectral break of GRB 090926 by the synchrotron cooling break or the maximum synchrotron cutoff limited by the dynamical time, not by the e+- creation cutoff. The relativistic baryon component could also heat the photospheric thermal photons into the main GRB Band spectrum via pp, p\gamma (Bethe-Heitler and photomeson), and Coulomb thermalization processes. In this hot photosphere-internal-external shock model, we can predict the anticorrelation of ~TeV neutrinos and GeV gamma-rays, which may be detectable using IceCube. The spectral peak and luminosity (Yonetoku) relation is also reproduced if the progenitor stars are nearly identical. We also discuss the steep/shallow decay of early X-ray afterglows and short GRBs.

Restricted energy loss of ultrarelativistic particles in thin targets – A search for deviations from constancy

Abstract Experimental results for the restricted energy loss of ultrarelativistic electrons, with Lorentz factors up to 3 × 10 5 , in a 535 μ m thin silicon detector are presented. The combination of high Lorentz factors and thin targets, opens for the possibility to study two mutually excluding effects, both based upon theory and on scarce experimental observations. One is a disappearance of the density effect when the transit time becomes so short that the effect of plasma-oscillations becomes negligible. This would result in an increased energy loss as the Lorentz factor increases. The other is an effect based on the existence of a coherence length over which there are contributions to the energy loss. This effect leads to a substantially decreased energy loss for thin targets as the Lorentz factor increases. The latter is shown to be incompatible with our measurements, whereas the former may be present with a correction of a few percent to an otherwise constant energy loss. Furthermore, we point to significant effects related to synchrotron and transition radiation, that must be carefully considered in a possible future experiment, and may as well have been of significance for the conclusion in earlier experiments.

HYPERACCRETING NEUTRON STAR DISKS AND NEUTRINO ANNIHILATION

Newborn neutron stars surrounded by hyperaccreting and neutrino-cooled disks may exist in some gamma-ray bursts and/or supernovae. In this paper, we further study the structure of such a neutron star disk based on the two-region (i.e., inner and outer) disk scenario following our previous work, and calculate the neutrino annihilation luminosity from the disk in various cases. We investigate the effects of the viscosity parameter {alpha}, energy parameter {epsilon} (measuring the neutrino cooling efficiency of the inner disk), and outflow strength on the structure of the entire disk as well as the effect of emission from the neutron star surface boundary emission on the total neutrino annihilation rate. The inner disk satisfies the entropy-conservation self-similar structure for the energy parameter {epsilon} {approx_equal} 1 and the advection-dominated structure for {epsilon} < 1. An outflow from the disk decreases the density and pressure but increases the thickness of the disk. Moreover, compared with the black hole disk, the neutrino annihilation luminosity above the neutron star disk is higher, and the neutrino emission from the boundary layer could increase the neutrino annihilation luminosity by about one order of magnitude higher than the disk without boundary emission. The neutron star disk with the advection-dominatedmore » inner disk could produce the highest neutrino luminosity while the disk with an outflow has the lowest. Although a heavily mass-loaded outflow from the neutron star surface at early times of neutron star formation prevents the outflow material from being accelerated to a high bulk Lorentz factor, an energetic ultrarelativistic jet via neutrino annihilation can be produced above the stellar polar region at late times if the disk accretion rate and the neutrino emission luminosity from the surface boundary layer are sufficiently high.« less

Early afterglows from radially structured outflows and the application to X-ray shallow decays

In the fireball model, it is more physically realistic that gamma-ray burst (GRB) ejecta have a range of bulk Lorentz factors (assuming M α −S). The low Lorentz factor part of the ejecta will catch up with the high Lorentz factor part when the latter is decelerated by the surrounding medium to a comparable Lorentz factor. Such a process will develop a long-lasting weak reverse shock until the whole ejecta are shocked. Meanwhile, the forward shocked materials are gradually supplied with energy from the ejecta that are catching-up, and thus the temporal decay of the forward shock emission will be slower than that without an energy supply. However, the reverse shock may be strong. Here, we extend the standard reverse-forward shock model to the case of radially nonuniform ejecta. We show that this process can be classified into two cases: the thick shell case and the thin shell case. In the thin shell case, the reverse shock is weak and the temporal scaling law of the afterglow is the same as that in Sari & Mészáros (2000). However, in the thick shell case, the reverse shock is strong and thus its emission dominates the afterglow in the high energy band. Our results also show slower decaying behavior of the afterglow due to the energy supply by low Lorentz factor materials, which may help the understanding of the plateau observed in the early optical and X-ray afterglows.

THE WHOLE EARTH BLAZAR TELESCOPE CAMPAIGN ON THE INTERMEDIATE BL LAC OBJECT 3C 66A IN 2007-2008

Prompted by a high optical state in September 2007, the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) consortium organized an intensive optical, near-IR (JHK) and radio observing campaign on the intermediate BL Lac object 3C 66A throughout the fall and winter of 2007 -- 2008. The source remained in a high optical state throughout the observing period and exhibited several bright flares on time scales of ~ 10 days. This included an exceptional outburst around September 15 - 20, 2007, reaching a peak brightness at R ~ 13.4. Our campaign revealed microvariability with flux changes up to |dR/dt| ~ 0.02 mag/hr. Our observations do not reveal evidence for systematic spectral variability or spectral lags. We infer a value of the magnetic field in the emission region of B ~ 19 e_B^{2/7} \tau_h^{-6/7} D_1^{13/7} G. From the lack of systematic spectral variability, we can derive an upper limit on the Doppler factor, D <= 28 \tau_h^{-1/8} e_B^{3/16}. This is in agreement with superluminal motion measurements of \beta_{app} \le 27 and argues against models with very high Lorentz factors of \Gamma > 50, required for a one-zone SSC interpretation of some high-frequency-peaked BL Lac objects detected at TeV gamma-ray energies.

Doppler factors, Lorentz factors and viewing angles for quasars, BL Lacertae objects and radio galaxies

<i>Aims. <i/>We have calculated variability Doppler boosting factors, Lorentz factors, and viewing angles for a large sample of sources by using total flux density observations at 22 and 37 GHz and VLBI data.<i>Methods. <i/>We decomposed the flux curves into exponential flares and determined the variability brightness temperatures of the fastest flares. By assuming the same intrinsic brightness temperature for each source, we calculated the Doppler boosting factors for 87 sources. In addition we used new apparent jet speed data to calculate the Lorentz factors and viewing angles for 67 sources.<i>Results. <i/>We find that all quasars in our sample are Doppler-boosted and that the Doppler boosting factors of BL Lacertae objects are lower than of quasars. The new Lorentz factors are about twice as high as in earlier studies, which is mainly due to higher apparent speeds in our analyses. The jets of BL Lacertae objects are slower than of quasars. There are some extreme sources with very high derived Lorentz factors of the order of a hundred. These high Lorentz factors could be real. It is also possible that the sources exhibit such rapid flares that the fast variations have remained undetected in monitoring programmes, or else the sources have a complicated jet structure that is not amenable to our simple analysis. Almost all the sources are seen in a small viewing angle of less than 20 degrees. Our results follow the predictions of basic unification schemes for AGN.

Multiwavelength study of Cygnus A - II. X-ray inverse-Compton emission from a relic counterjet and implications for jet duty cycles

The duty-cycle of powerful radio galaxies and quasars such as the prototype Cygnus A is poorly understood. X-ray observations of inverse-Compton scattered Cosmic Microwave Background (ICCMB) photons probe lower Lorentz-factor particles than radio observations of synchrotron emission. Comparative studies of the nearer and further lobes, separated by many 10s of kpc and thus 10s of thousands of years in light-travel time, yield additional temporal resolution in studies of the lifecycles. We have co-added all archival Chandra ACIS-I data and present a deep 200 ks image of Cygnus A. This deep image reveals the presence of X-ray emission from a counterjet i.e. a jet receding from Earth and related to a previous episode of jet activity. The non-thermal X-ray emission, we interpret as ICCMB radiation. There is an absence of any discernible X-ray emission associated with a jet flowing towards Earth. We conclude that: (1) The emission from a relic jet, indicates a previous episode of jet activity, that took place earlier than the current jet activity appearing as synchrotron radio emission. (2) The presence of X-ray emission from a relic counterjet of Cygnus A and the absence of X-ray emission associated with any relic approaching jet constrains the timescale between successive episodes of jet activity to ~10^6 years. (3) Transverse expansion of the jet causes expansion losses which shifts the energy distribution to lower energies. (4) Assuming the electrons cooled due to adiabatic expansion, the required magnetic field strength is substantially smaller than the equipartition magnetic field strength. (5) A high minimum Lorentz factor for the distribution of relativistic particles in the current jet, of a few 10^3, is ejected from the central nucleus of this active galaxy. Abridged.

Formation of dynamical structures in relativistic jets: the FRI case

Strong observational evidence indicates that all extragalactic jets associated with AGNs move at relativistic speed up to 100 pc - 1 kpc scales from the nucleus. At larger distances, reflecting the Fanaroff-Riley radio source classification, we observe an abrupt deceleration in FR-I jets while relativistic motions persist up to Mpc scale in FR-II. Moreover, VLBI observations of some object like B2 1144+35, Mrk501 and M87 show limb brightening of the jet radio emission at the parsec scale. This effect is interpreted kinematically as due to the presence of a deboosted central spine at high Lorentz factor and of a weakly relativistic external layer. In this paper we investigate whether these effects can be interpreted by a breaking of the collimated flow by external medium entrainment favored by shear instabilities, namely Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. We examine in details the physical conditions under which significant deceleration of a relativistic flow is produced. We investigate the phenomenon by means of high-resolution three-dimensional relativistic hydrodynamic simulations using the PLUTO code for computational astrophysics. We find that the parameter of utmost importance in determining the instability evolution and the entrainment properties is the ambient/jet density contrast. We show that lighter jets suffer stronger slowing down in the external layer than in the central part and conserve a central spine at high Lorentz factor. Our model is verified by constructing synthetic emission maps from the numerical simulations that compare reasonably well with VLBI observations of the inner part of FR-I sources.

Modelling interaction of relativistic and non-relativistic winds in binary system PSR B1259−63/SS2883 – I. Hydrodynamical limit

In this paper, we present a detailed hydrodynamical study of the properties of the flow produced by the collision of a pulsar wind with the surrounding in a binary system. This work is the first attempt to simulate interaction of the ultrarelativistic flow (pulsar wind) with the non-relativistic stellar wind. Obtained results show that the wind collision could result in the formation of an 'unclosed' (at spatial scales comparable to the binary system size) pulsar wind termination shock even when the stellar wind ram pressure exceeds significantly the pulsar wind kinetic pressure. Moreover, the post-shock flow propagates in a rather narrow region, with very high bulk Lorentz factor (y ∼ 100). This flow acceleration is related to adiabatic losses which are purely hydrodynamical effects. Interestingly, in this particular case, no magnetic field is required for formation of the ultrarelativistic bulk outflow. The obtained results provide a new interpretation for the orbital variability of radio, X-ray and gamma-ray signals detected from binary pulsar system PSR B1259-63/SS2883.

A general scheme for modelling γ-ray burst prompt emission

We describe a general method for modelling γ-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission, and determine the range of magnetic field strength, electron energy, Lorentz factor of the source and the distance of the source from the central explosion that is needed to account for the prompt γ-ray emission of a typical long-duration burst. We find that for the burst to be produced via the synchrotron process unphysical conditions are required – the distance of the source from the centre of the explosion (Rγ) must be larger than ∼1017cm and the source Lorentz factor ≳103; for such a high Lorentz factor the deceleration radius (Rd) is less than Rγ even if the number density of particles in the surrounding medium is as small as ∼0.1 cm−3. The result, Rγ > Rd, is in contradiction with the early X-ray and optical afterglow data that show that γ-rays precede the afterglow flux that is produced by a decelerating forward shock. This problem for the synchrotron process applies to all long GRBs other than those that have the low-energy spectrum precisely ν−1/2. In order for the synchrotron process to be a viable mechanism for long bursts, the energy of electrons radiating in the γ-ray band needs to be continuously replenished by some acceleration mechanism during much of the observed spike in GRB light curve – this is not possible if GRB-prompt radiation is produced in shocks (at least the kind that has been usually considered for GRBs) where particles are accelerated at the shock front and not as they travel downstream and emit γ-rays, but might work in some different scenarios such as magnetic outflows. The synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) process fares much better. There is a large solution space for a typical GRB-prompt emission to be produced via the SSC process. The prompt optical emission accompanying the burst is found to be very bright (≲14 mag; for z∼ 2) in the SSC model, which exceeds the observed flux (or upper limit) for most GRBs. The prompt optical is predicted to be even brighter for the subclass of bursts that have the spectrum fν∝να with α∼ 1 below the peak of νfν. Surprisingly, there are no SSC solutions for bursts that have α∼ 1/3; these bursts might require continuous or repeated acceleration of electrons or some physics beyond the simplified, although generic, SSC model considered in this work. Continuous acceleration of electrons can also significantly reduce the optical flux that would otherwise accompany γ-rays in the SSC model.

A Magnetohydrodynamic Boost for Relativistic Jets

We have performed relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the hydrodynamic boosting mechanism for relativistic jets explored by Aloy & Rezzolla (2006) using the RAISHIN code. Simulation results show that the presence of a magnetic field may change the properties of the shock interface between the tenuous, overpressured jet (V(sub j) (sup z)) flowing tangentially to a dense external medium. Magnetic fields can lead to more efficient acceleration of the jet, in comparison to the pure-hydrodynamic case. A poloidal magnetic field (B(sup z)), tangent to the interface and parallel to the jet flow, produces both a stronger outward moving shock and inward moving rarefaction wave. This leads to a large velocity component normal to the interface in addition to acceleration tangent to the interface, and the jet is thus accelerated to a larger Lorentz factors than those obtained in the pure-hydrodynamic case. In contrast, a strong toroidal magnetic field (B(sup y)), tangent to the interface but perpendicular to the jet flow, also leads to stronger acceleration tangent to the shock interface relative to the pure-hydrodynamic case, but to a lesser extent than found for the poloidal case due to the fact that the velocity component normal to the shock interface is now much smaller. Overall, the acceleration efficiency in the toroidal case is less than that of the poloidal case but both geometries still result in higher Lorentz factors than the pure-hydrodynamic case. Thus, the presence and relative orientation of a magnetic field in relativistic jets can have a significant influence on the hydrodynamic boost mechanism studied by Aloy & Rezzolla (2006).

GRB Precursors in the Fallback Collapsar Scenario

Precursor emission has been observed in a non-negligible fraction of gamma-ray bursts.The time gap between the precursor and the main burst extends in some case up to hundreds of seconds, such as in GRB041219A, GRB050820A and GRB060124. Both the origin of the precursor and the large value of the time gap are controversial. Here we investigate the maximum possible time gaps arising from the jet propagation inside the progenitor star, in models which assume that the precursor is produced by the jet bow shock or the cocoon breaking out of the progenitor. Due to the pressure drop ahead of the jet head after it reaches the stellar surface, a rarefaction wave propagates back into the jet at the sound speed, which re-accelerates the jet to a relativistic velocity and therefore limits the gap period to within about ten seconds. This scenario therefore cannot explain gaps which are hundreds of seconds long. Instead, we ascribe such long time gaps to the behavior of the central engine, and suggest a fallback collapsar scenario for these bursts. In this scenario, the precursor is produced by a weak jet formed during the initial core collapse, possibly related to MHD processes associated with a short-lived proto-neutron star, while the main burst is produced by a stronger jet fed by fallback accretion onto the black hole resulting from the collapse of the neutron star. We have examined the propagation times of the weak precursor jet through the stellar progenitor. We find that the initial weak jet can break out of the progenitor in a time less than ten seconds (a typical precursor duration) provided that it has a moderately high relativistic Lorentz factor \Gamma>=10 (abridged).

Prompt emission of high-energy photons from gamma ray bursts

Within the internal shock scenario, we consider different mechanisms of high-energy ( > 1 MeV) photon production inside a gamma ray burst (GRB ) fireball and derive the expected high-energy photon spectra from individual GRBs during the prompt phase. The photon spectra of leptonic and hadronic origins are compared within different sets of parameter regimes. Our results suggest that the high-energy emission is dominated by the leptonic component if the fraction of shock energy carried by electrons is not very small (e.g. ∈ e > 10 -3 ). For very small values of ∈ e , the hadronic emission component could be comparable to or even exceed the leptonic component in the GeV-TeV regime. However, in this case a much larger energy budget of the fireball is required to account for the same level of the observed sub-MeV spectrum. The fireballs are therefore extremely inefficient in radiation. For a canonical fireball bulk Lorentz factor (e.g. r = 400), emissions above ∼ 10 GeV are attenuated by two-photon pair production processes. For a fireball with an even higher Lorentz factor, the cut-off energy is higher, and emissions of 10 TeV-PeV due to 7r°-decay can also escape from the internal shocks. The flux level is, however, too low to be detected by current TeV detectors, and these photons also suffer attenuation by external soft photons. The GLAST Large Area Telescope can detect prompt emission of bright long GRBs above 100 MeV. For short GRBs, the prompt emission can be only barely detected for nearby bright ones with relatively 'long' durations (e.g. ∼1 s). With the observed high-energy spectrum alone, it appears that there is no clean picture to test the leptonic versus hadronic origin of the gamma rays. Such an issue may be, however, addressed by collecting both prompt and afterglow data. A moderate-to-high radiative efficiency would suggest a leptonic origin of high-energy photons, while a GRB with an extremely low radiative efficiency but an extended high-energy emission component would be consistent with (but not a proof for) the hadronic origin.

X‐Ray and TeV Gamma‐Ray Emission from Parallel Electron‐Positron or Electron‐Proton Beams in BL Lacertae Objects

In this paper we discuss models of the X-rays and TeV gamma-ray emission from BL Lac objects based on parallel electron-positron or electron-proton beams that form close to the central black hole owing to the strong electric fields generated by the accretion disk and possibly also by the black hole itself. Fitting the energy spectrum of the BL Lac object Mrk 501, we obtain tight constrains on the beam properties. Launching a sufficiently energetic beam requires rather strong magnetic fields close to the black hole 100-1000 G. However, the model fits imply that the magnetic field in the emission region is only 0.02 G. Thus, the particles are accelerated close to the black hole and propagate a considerable distance before instabilities trigger the dissipation of energy through synchrotron and self-Compton emission. We discuss various approaches to generate enough power to drive the jet and, at the same time, to accelerate particles to 20 TeV energies. Although the parallel beam model has its own problems, it explains some of the long-standing problems that plague models based on Fermi type particle acceleration, like the presence of a very high minimum Lorentz factor of accelerated particles. We conclude with a brief discussion of the implications of the model for the difference between the processes of jet formation in BL Lac type objects and in quasars.