Gamma-ray Burst Afterglows: Time-Varying Extinction, Polarization, and Colors due to Rotational Disruption of Dust Grains

Abstract: Prompt optical emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is known to have important effects on the surrounding environment. In this paper, we study rotational disruption and alignment of dust grains by radiative torques (RATs) induced by GRB afterglows and predict their signatures on the observational properties of GRB afterglows. We first study grain disruption using RAdiative Torque Disruption (RATD) mechanism and find that large grains (size $>0.1 \mu\rm m$) within a distance of $d< 40$ pc from the source can be disrupted into smaller grains. We then model the extinction curve of GRB afterglows and find that optical-NIR extinction is rapidly decreased, and UV extinction increases due to the conversion of large grains into smaller ones via RATD. The total-to-selective visual extinction ratio is found to decrease from the standard value of $R_{V}\sim 3.1$ to $\sim 1.5$ after disruption time $t_{\rm disr} \lesssim 10^{4}$ s. Next, we study grain alignment by RATs induced by GRB afterglows and model the wavelength-dependence polarization produced by grains aligned with magnetic fields. We find that polarization degree first increases due to enhanced alignment of small grains and then decreases when grain disruption by RATD begins. The maximum polarization wavelength $ \lambda_{\rm max}$ decreases rapidly from the standard value of $\sim 0.55 \mu\rm m$ to $\sim 0.15 \mu\rm m$ over alignment time of $t_{\rm align} \lesssim 30$ s due to enhanced alignment of small grains. Finally, we found that RATD induces a significant decrease in optical/NIR extinction, producing an optical re-brightening in the observed light curve of GRB afterglows. We show that our theoretical predictions can explain various observational properties of GRB afterglows, including steep extinction curves, time-variability of colors, and optical re-brightening of GRB afterglows.