2015ApJ...813...63H

The Fermi satellite detected GeV flashes from cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In two GRBs, an optical counterpart of the GeV flash was detected. Such flashes are predicted by the model of a blast wave running into a medium loaded with copious e^± pairs. Here we examine a sample of seven bursts with the best GeV+optical data and further test the model. We find that the observed light curves are in agreement with the theoretical predictions, which allows us to measure three parameters for each burst: the Lorentz factor of the explosion, its isotropic kinetic energy, and the external density. With the possible exception of GRB 090510 (the only short burst in the sample), the ambient medium is consistent with a wind from a Wolf-Rayet progenitor. The wind density parameter A = ρr² varies in the sample around 10¹¹ g/cm. The initial Lorentz factor of the blast wave varies from 200 to 540, and correlates with the burst luminosity. Radiative efficiency of the prompt emission varies between 0.1 and 0.8. For the two bursts with a detected optical flash, GRB 120711A and GRB 130427A, we also estimate the magnetization of the external blast wave. Remarkably, despite its small number of free parameters, the model reproduces the entire optical light curve of GRB 120711A (with its sharp peak, fast decay, plateau, and break) as well as the GeV data. The spectra of GeV flashes are predicted to extend above 0.1 TeV, where they can be detected by ground-based Cherenkov telescopes.