Emergence of a filamentary structure in the fireball from GRB spectra

It is shown that the concept of a fireball with a definite filamentary structure naturally emerges from the analysis of the spectra of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). These results, made possible by the recently obtained analytic expressions of the equitemporal surfaces in the GRB afterglow, depend crucially on the single parameter R describing the effective area of the fireball emitting the X-ray and gamma-ray radiation. The X-ray and gamma-ray components of the afterglow radiation are shown to have a thermal spectrum in the co-moving frame of the fireball and originate from a stable shock front described self-consistently by the Rankine-Hugoniot equations. Precise predictions are presented on a correlation between spectral changes and intensity variations in the prompt radiation verifiable, e.g., by the Swift and future missions. The highly variable optical and radio emission depends instead on the parameters of the surrounding medium. The GRB 991216 is used as a prototype for this model.