Connecting the early afterglow to the prompt GRB and the central engine

Despite a general framework for describing Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) afterglows, the nature of the compact object and the mechanism behind the GRB prompt emission remain a mystery. The striped jet model is a promising venue to investigate many of these pressing questions since it gives a robust prediction of the relation of jet acceleration, magnetization and dissipation profile as a function of distance. Here, we propose to use the afterglow observations constraining the jet properties at the large scales where the jet starts interacting with the ambient gas to (i) test the striped jet model for the GRB flow and (ii) study its predictions for the prompt emission and the central engine.