Search

Rapid temporal variability has been widely observed in the light curves of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). One possible mechanism for such variability is related to the relativistic eddies in the jet. In this paper, we include the contribution of the inter-eddy medium together with the eddies to the gamma-ray emission. We show that the gamma-ray emission can either lead or lag behind the observed synchrotron emission, where the latter originates in the inter-eddy medium and provides most of the seed photons for producing gamma-ray emission through inverse Compton scattering. As a consequence, we argue that the lead/lag found in non-stationary short-lived light curves may not reveal the intrinsic lead/lag of different emission components. In addition, our results may explain the lead of gamma-ray emission with respect to optical emission observed in GRB 080319B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The physical nature of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is believed to involve an ultra-relativistic jet. The observed complex structure of light curves motivates the idea of jet precession. In this work, we study the gravitational waves of jet precession based on neutrino-dominated accretion disks around black holes, which may account for the central engine of GRBs. In our model, the jet and the inner part of the disk may precess along with the black hole, which is driven by the outer part of the disk. Gravitational waves are therefore expected to be significant from this black-hole-inner-disk precession system. By comparing our numerical results with the sensitivity of some detectors, we find that it is possible for DECIGO and BBO to detect such gravitational waves, particularly for GRBs in the Local Group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]