Precursors of gamma-ray bursts: a clue to the burster's nature

Abstract

In relativistic strongly magnetized winds outflowing from the fast-rotating compact progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) there are three regions where powerful high-frequency emission may be generated: (i) the thermal photosphere, (ii) the region of the internal wind instability and (iii) the region of the wind interaction with an ambient gas. This results in a multicomponent structure of GRBs. The emission from the thermal photosphere may be observed as a weak precursor to the main burst. The precursor should have a blackbody-like spectrum with the mean energy of photons of $\sim 1$ MeV, and its intensity should be tens to hundreds of times smaller than that of the main GRB emission. Observations of such precursors with future $\gamma$-ray missions like GLAST can clarify the nature of bursters.