Inverse Compton X-ray Flare from Gamma-ray Burst Reverse Shock

We study synchrotron self-inverse Compton radiation from a reverse shock fireball. If the inverse Compton process dominates the cooling of shocked electrons, an X-ray flare produced by the first-order Compton scattering would emerge in the very early afterglow phase, with the bulk of the shock energy radiated in the second-order scattering component at 10–100MeV. The dominance of inverse Compton cooling leads to the lack of prompt optical flashes. We show that for plausible parameters this scattering process can produce an X-ray flare with a relative amplitude change of a factor of several. Flares with a larger amplitude and multiple X-ray flares in a single event are likely to be produced by another mechanism (e.g., internal shocks). Subject headingg s: gamma rays: bursts — radiation mechanisms: nonthermal — shock waves