Spectral evolution of GRBs and the "death line” of the synchrotron shock model

International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Via Beirut 2-4, 34013 Trieste, Italy

Send offprint request to: H. Papathanassiou

Received: 21 January 1999
Accepted: 12 March 1999

Abstract

I calculate spectral evolution series for pulses of GRBs, in the BATSE spectral range, for continuous particle injection and cooling by synchrotron, inverse Compton, and adiabatic expansion. The hydrodynamic properties of the relativistic outflow are homogeneous across the emitting region which is a conical jet. The flow is viewed at an angle off its symmetry axis; time delays are taken into account. I discuss the low energy slope part of the spectrum, in view of the recent claim of photon slopes in bright BATSE bursts that are inconsistent with the optically thin synchrotron shock model (SSM).