Physical Model of Gamma-Ray Burst Spectral Evolution

Abstract

We propose a physical model of gamma-ray burst spectral evolution in which impulsively accelerated nonthermal leptons cool by saturated Compton upscattering of soft photons. This model naturally explains the recently discovered exponential decay of the spectral break energy with photon fluence, the hard-to-soft spectral evolution patterns, and other spectral and temporal properties of gamma-ray bursts.