Nonthermal optical transients from relativistic fireballs

David Eichler; Gregory Beskin

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2669

Nonthermal optical transients from relativistic fireballs

David Eichler, Gregory Beskin

Department of Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

A general upper bound is derived on the total energy in incoherent nonthermal transients at frequency v from relativistic fireballs with bulk Lorentz factors Г and observed duration Δt, and shown to be about 10⁻²[ГvΔt]³ ergs. It is suggested that detection in the optical can be achieved with the next generation of ground based gamma ray telescopes and/or small optical telescopes. Phenomena within the Galaxy such as accretion disk flares and neutron star magnetospheric discharges might be discovered in this way.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2669-2672
Number of pages	4
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	85
Issue number	13
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2669
State	Published - 1 Jan 2000

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2669

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Nonthermal optical transients from relativistic fireballs

Abstract

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