NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) 20230001178: Significant and V... | |
by NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) | |
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Measurement of polarized light provides a direct probe of | |
magnetic fields in collimated outflows (jets) of | |
relativistic plasma from accreting stellar-mass black | |
holes at cosmological distances. These outflows power | |
brief and intense flashes of prompt gamma-rays known as | |
Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), followed by longer-lived | |
afterglow radiation detected across the electromagnetic | |
spectrum. Rapid-response polarimetric observations of | |
newly discovered GRBs have probed the initial afterglow | |
phase. Linear polarization degrees as high as 30% are | |
detected minutes after the end of the prompt GRB | |
emission, consistent with a stable, globally ordered | |
magnetic field permeating the jet at large distances from | |
the central source. In contrast, optical and gamma-ray | |
observations during the prompt phase led to discordant | |
and often controversial results, and no definitive | |
conclusions on the origin of the prompt radiation or the | |
configuration of the magnetic field could be derived. | |
Here we report the detection of linear polarization of a | |
prompt optical flash that accompanied the extremely | |
energetic and long-lived prompt gamma-ray emission from | |
GRB 160625B. Our measurements probe the structure of the | |
magnetic field at an early stage of the GRB jet, closer | |
to the central source, and show that the prompt GRB phase | |
is produced via fast cooling synchrotron radiation in a | |
large-scale magnetic field advected from the central | |
black hole and distorted from dissipation processes | |
within the jet. | |
Date Published: 2023-05-27 15:48:07 | |
Identifier: NASA_NTRS_Archive_20230001178 | |
Item Size: 597621 | |
Language: english | |
Media Type: texts | |
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