Polarization of the prompt γ-ray emission from the γ-ray burst of 6 December 2002
Polarization of the prompt γ-ray emission from the γ-ray burst of 6 December 2002
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DOI：
10.1038/nature01612
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发表时间：
2003-05
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
W. Coburn;S. Boggs
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
W. Coburn;S. Boggs
对γ射线暴（GRB）余辉的观测表明，它们位于宇宙学距离上，因此对应于巨大能量的释放。为这些事件提供动力的中心引擎的性质和γ射线的快速发射机制本身仍然是个谜，因为一旦产生了相对论性火球，余辉的物理学对前身的性质不敏感。在GRB 021206的瞬发γ射线辐射中发现了线偏振现象，这表明它是强磁场中相对论电子的同步辐射。极化处于理论最大值，这需要在γ射线发射区域上具有均匀的大尺度磁场。一个大规模的磁场将可能的祖先限制在那些拥有或产生有组织的磁场的祖先。我们认为，在祖环境中的大磁能密度（相当于火球的动能密度），结合大规模的场结构，表明磁场驱动伽玛暴爆炸。
Observations of the afterglows of γ-ray bursts (GRBs) have revealed that they lie at cosmological distances, and so correspond to the release of an enormous amount of energy,. The nature of the central engine that powers these events and the prompt γ-ray emission mechanism itself remain enigmatic because, once a relativistic fireball is created, the physics of the afterglow is insensitive to the nature of the progenitor. Here we report the discovery of linear polarization in the prompt γ-ray emission from GRB021206, which indicates that it is synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons in a strong magnetic field. The polarization is at the theoretical maximum, which requires a uniform, large-scale magnetic field over the γ-ray emission region. A large-scale magnetic field constrains possible progenitors to those either having or producing organized fields. We suggest that the large magnetic energy densities in the progenitor environment (comparable to the kinetic energy densities of the fireball), combined with the large-scale structure of the field, indicate that magnetic fields drive the GRB explosion.