Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

Document Type

Poster

Publication Title

Northrop Grumman Engineering & Science Student Design Showcase

Abstract

The standard models for gamma ray bursts (GRBs) typically assume that shockaccelerated electrons follow a power law distribution of energies. However, this behavior is not what some gamma ray bursts show. In this project, it is suggested that the presence of thermal electrons causes temporal and spectral structure across the afterglow, which is significantly different from models assuming a pure power-law distribution of electrons. To model the afterglows, we decide on a large number of samples of GRBs from the Swift database and obtain the temporal and spectral indices at arbitrary times. By finding the temporal and spectral indices at arbitrary times for a large sample of GRBs, a plot can be created to track the behavior of the afterglows through time, and determine if the curves resemble those of figures 11 and 12 in Warren et al. (2022).

Advisor

Donald C. Warren

Publication Date

4-24-2026

Download

Included in

Physics Commons

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.