Convective Instability of a Relativistic Ejecta Decelerated by a Surrounding Medium: An Origin of Magnetic Fields in Gamma-Ray Bursts?

Global linear stability analysis of a self-similar solution describing a relativistic shell decelerated by an ambient medium is performed. The system is shown to be subject to the convective Rayleigh-Taylor instability, with a rapid growth of eigenmodes having angular scale much smaller than the cau...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAstrophysical journal. Letters Vol. 705; no. 2; pp. L213 - L216
Main Author Levinson, Amir
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States IOP Publishing 10.11.2009
Subjects
AFTERGLOW
CAUSALITY
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
COSMIC RADIATION
ENERGY RANGE
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
INSTABILITY
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MECHANICS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
OSCILLATIONS
PRIMARY COSMIC RADIATION
RADIATIONS
RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
TURBULENCE
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Summary:Global linear stability analysis of a self-similar solution describing a relativistic shell decelerated by an ambient medium is performed. The system is shown to be subject to the convective Rayleigh-Taylor instability, with a rapid growth of eigenmodes having angular scale much smaller than the causality scale. The growth rate appears to be largest at the interface separating the shocked ejecta and shocked ambient gas. The disturbances produced at the contact interface propagate in the shocked media and cause nonlinear oscillations of the forward and reverse shock fronts. It is speculated that such oscillations may affect the emission from the shocked ejecta in the early afterglow phase of gamma-ray bursts, and may be the origin of the magnetic field in the shocked circum-burst medium.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
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ISSN:1538-4357
2041-8205
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/705/2/L213