Researcher Mao Jirong and Researcher Wang Jiancheng of Yunnan Astronomical Observatory of Chinese Academy of Sciences have made a detailed study on the very high energy radiation of gamma-ray bursts in TeV energy band by using the mechanism of jitter radiation, which proves that the jitter radiation is an important physical mechanism for generating TeV photons of gamma-ray bursts. This research result was recently published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

after the high-energy photons and cosmic rays in the p>TeV energy band enter the earth's atmosphere, they propagate in the upper atmosphere and produce a shower cascade process, thus emitting blue radiation, which is called Cherenkov radiation. The ground telescope for detecting Cherenkov radiation is called Cherenkov telescope. Gamma-ray bursts are the brightest exploding objects in the universe, and are important sources of very high-energy radiation and cosmic rays. At present, only a few very high-energy radiations of gamma-ray bursts have been detected. The very high-energy radiation produced by high-energy celestial bodies, including gamma-ray bursts, in TeV energy region is a hot and frontier issue in high-energy astrophysics research at present.

Mao Jirong and others studied the very high energy radiation of gamma-ray bursts in detail by using trembling radiation. Trembling radiation is the radiation produced by relativistic electrons in a small-scale disordered magnetic field. Small-scale disordered magnetic field is produced by turbulence. Turbulence can fully develop to the kinetic scale, forming a plasma kinetic turbulence on a small scale. Relativistic electrons are accelerated on the small scale of plasma dynamic turbulence, and then radiation is generated in the disordered magnetic field. This radiation process reasonably explains the very high energy observation results of gamma-ray bursts in TeV energy band. This is the latest development of Mao Jirong's series of studies on the mechanism of trembling radiation.

The above theoretical results can not only explain the very high-energy radiation of gamma-ray bursts, but also be used for the theoretical study of very high-energy radiation of other high-energy celestial bodies, and help to explore the related physical processes of particle acceleration at small scales, which is of great significance to the study of very high-energy astronomy and high-energy cosmic rays. The theoretical research results play an important role in the scientific analysis of the observation data of the large-scale Cherenkov telescope currently in operation, and are also of great significance to the development of the atmospheric Cherenkov telescope and related instruments and equipment in China in the future.

This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Yunnan High-level Talents Program.

paper link

schematic diagram: the relationship between Lorentz factor and magnetic field of relativistic electrons in gamma-ray bursts.