Gamma-ray bursts from unstable Poynting-dominated outflows

Poynting-flux driven outflows from magnetized rotators are a plausible explanation for gamma-ray burst engines. We suggest a new possibility for how such outflows might transfer energy into radiating particles. We argue that, in a region near the rotation axis, the Poynting flux drives non-linearly unstable large-amplitude electromagnetic waves (LAEMW) that ‘break’ at radii where the MHD approximation becomes inapplicable. In the ‘foaming’ (relativistically reconnecting) regions formed during the wave breaks, the random electric fields stochastically accelerate particles to ultrarelativistic energies which then radiate in turbulent electromagnetic fields. The typical energy of the emitted photons is a fraction of the fundamental Compton energy with plus additional boosting due to the bulk motion of the medium. The emission properties are similar to synchrotron radiation, with a typical cooling time ∼10−3 s. During the wave break, the plasma is also bulk accelerated in the outward radial direction and at larger radii can produce afterglows due to interactions with the external medium. The near equipartition fields required by afterglow models may be due to magnetic field regeneration in the outflowing plasma (similar to field generation by LAEMW in laser–plasma interactions) and mixing with the upstream plasma.