AAS 204th Meeting, June 2004
Session 97 Instrumentation, Ground-based and Space-based Gamma Ray Bursts
Oral, Thursday, June 3, 2004, 2:00-3:30pm, 702

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[97.07] Spectral Evolution in Prompt GRBs and the Magnetic Turbulence in Relativistic Shocks

M. V. Medvedev (University of Kansas)

The generation of magnetic fields at relativistic collisionless GRB shocks becomes a fairly well established fact, thanks to both theoretical studies and a number of state-of-the-art 3D kinetic simulations. We show that these magnetic fields, once created, exhibit rich turbulent dynamics. In particular, the correlation scale of the fields increases continuously with time (and the distance from the shock front), while the field strength does not substantially evolve. Such filed evolution must affect spectral characteristics of the radiation emitted by shock-accelerated electrons, e.g., result in a transition from the jitter regime to the synchrotron one. We investigate whether the hard-to-soft evolution in prompt GRB emission can be associated with the field dynamics.


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