X. F. Wu et al. 2004 ApJ 615 359 doi:10.1086/424378
X. F. Wu1, Z. G. Dai1 and E. W. Liang1,2,3
Show affiliationsWe derive a relation between the flux density Fν,j at the light-curve break of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow and the break time tj. The break is due to the transition from the spherical-like to jet-like evolution of the afterglow, when the Lorentz factor of the jet equals the inverse of the initial half-opening angle, i.e., γ = 1/θ0. We show that this relation indeed behaves as Fν,j
t
among GRBs for the slow-cooling case, where p is the power-law index of electron distribution. A statistical analysis of the optical jet breaks of nine GRBs gives p = 2.10 ± 0.21, which is consistent with the shock acceleration theory. The value of p derived in this way is different from the observed temporal index α2 (Fν
t
) of the late-time light curve after tj, which suffers several uncertainties from the unclear hydrodynamics of the sideways expansion and exhibits a large dispersion. Our results not only confirm that the remnants of GRBs are standard candles, but also provide the first evidence that the physical parameters of relativistic shocks are universal, with the favored values
e ~ 0.1 and
B ~ 10-3.
gamma rays: bursts; gamma rays: observations; ISM: jets and outflows; methods: statistical
Issue 1 (2004 November 1)
Received 2004 May 11, accepted for publication 2004 July 13
X. F. Wu et al. 2004 ApJ 615 359
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