Early X-ray flares in GRBs

Using a novel data analysis, we show that the time of occurrence, duration, luminosity, and total energy of the X-ray flares correlate with Eiso. A crucial feature is the observation of thermal emission in the X-ray flares that we show occurs at radii ~10^12^cm with {Gamma}<~4. These model-independent observations cannot be explained by the "fireball" model, which postulates synchrotron and inverse-Compton radiation from a single ultrarelativistic jetted emission extending from the prompt to the late afterglow and GeV emission phases.

We show that in BdHNe a collision between the GRB and the SN ejecta occurs at ~10^10^cm, reaching transparency at ~10^12^cm with {Gamma}<~4. The agreement between the thermal emission observations and these theoretically derived values validates our model and opens the possibility of testing each BdHN episode with the corresponding Lorentz Gamma factor.