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The polarization measurement is an important tool to probe the prompt emission mechanism in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The synchrotron photons can be scattered by cold electrons in the outflow via Compton scattering (CS) processes. The observed polarization depends on both the photon energy and the viewing angle. With the typicalbulk Lorentz factor Γ ∼ 200, photons with energy E > 10 MeV tend to have smaller polarization than photons with energy E < 1 MeV. At the right viewing angle, i.e., θ ∼ Γ−1, the polarization achieves its maximal value, and the polarization angle changes 90◦ relative to the initial polarization direction. Thus, the synchrotron radiation plus CS model can naturally explain the 90◦ change of the polarization angle in GRB 100826A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of the likely stellar counterpart to the unassociated Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) γ-ray source 2FGL J0846.0+2820, selected for study based on positional coincidences of optical variables with unassociated LAT sources. Using optical spectroscopy from the SOAR telescope, we have identified a late-G giant in an eccentric (e = 0.06) 8.133-day orbit with an invisible primary. Modeling the spectroscopy and photometry together led us to infer a heavy neutron star primary of and a partially stripped giant secondary of . Hα emission is observed in some of the spectra, perhaps consistent with the presence of a faint accretion disk. We find that the γ-ray flux of 2FGL J0846.0+2820 dropped substantially in mid-2009, accompanied by an increased variation in the optical brightness, and since then, it has not been detected by Fermi. The long period and giant secondary are reminiscent of the γ-ray bright binary 1FGL J1417.7–4407, which hosts a millisecond pulsar (MSP) apparently in the final stages of the pulsar recycling process. The discovery of 2FGL J0846.0+2820 suggests the identification of a new subclass of MSP binaries that are the likely progenitors of typical field MSPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the electrostatic acceleration of electrons and positrons in the vicinity of the event horizon, applying the pulsar outer-gap model to black hole (BH) magnetospheres. During a low accretion phase, the radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) cannot emit enough MeV photons that are needed to sustain the force-free magnetosphere via two-photon collisions. In such a charge-starved region (or a gap), an electric field arises along the magnetic field lines to accelerate electrons and positrons into ultra-relativistic energies. These relativistic leptons emit copious gamma rays via curvature and inverse-Compton (IC) processes. Some of such gamma rays collide with the submillimeter-IR photons emitted from the RIAF to materialize as pairs, which polarize to partially screen the original acceleration electric field. It is found that the gap gamma-ray luminosity increases with decreasing accretion rate. However, if the accretion rate decreases too much, the diminished RIAF soft photon field can no longer sustain a stationary pair production within the gap. As long as a stationary gap is formed, the magnetosphere becomes force-free outside the gap by the cascaded pairs, irrespective of the BH mass. If a nearby stellar-mass BH is in quiescence, or if a galactic intermediate-mass BH is in a very low accretion state, its curvature and IC emissions are found to be detectable with Fermi/LAT and imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACT). If a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus is located within about 30 Mpc, the IC emission from its supermassive BH is marginally detectable with IACT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high polarization observed in the prompt phase of some gamma-ray bursts invites extensive study of the emission mechanism. In this paper, we investigate the polarization properties of the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) process from a highly relativistic jet. A magnetic-dominated, baryon-loaded jet ejected from the central engine travels with a large Lorentz factor. Shells with slightly different velocities collide with each other and produce shocks. The shocks accelerate electrons to a power-law distribution and, at the same time, magnify the magnetic field. Electrons move in the magnetic field and produce synchrotron photons. Synchrotron photons suffer from the Compton scattering (CS) process and then are detected by an observer located slightly off-axis. We analytically derive the formulae of photon polarization in the SSC process in two magnetic configurations: a magnetic field in the shock plane and perpendicular to the shock plane. We show that photons induced by the SSC process can be highly polarized, with the maximum polarization Π ∼ 24% in the energy band [0.5, 5] MeV. The polarization depends on the viewing angles, peaking in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field. In the energy band [0.05, 0.5] MeV, in which most γ-ray polarimeters are active, the polarization is about twice that in the Thomson limit, reaching Π ∼ 20%. This implies that the Klein-Nishina effect, which is often neglected in the literature, should be carefully considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]