The binary millisecond radio pulsar PSR J1023+0038 has been recently the subject of multiwavelength monitoring campaigns which revealed that an accretion disc has formed around the neutron star ...(since 2013 June). We present here the results of X-ray and UV observations carried out by the Swift satellite between 2013 October and 2014 May, and of optical and NIR observations performed with the REM telescope, the Liverpool Telescope, the 2.1-m telescope at the San Pedro Mártir Observatory and the 1.52-m telescope at the Loiano observing station. The X-ray spectrum is well described by an absorbed power law, which is softer than the previous quiescent epoch (up to 2013 June). The strong correlation between the X-ray and the UV emissions indicates that the same mechanism should be responsible for part of the emission in these bands. Optical and infrared photometric observations show that the companion star is strongly irradiated. Double-peaked emission lines in the optical spectra provide compelling evidence for the presence of an outer accretion disc too. The spectral energy distribution from IR to X-rays is well modelled if the contributions from the companion, the disc and the intrabinary shock emission are all considered. Our extensive data set can be interpreted in terms of an engulfed radio pulsar: the radio pulsar is still active, but undetectable in the radio band due to a large amount of ionized material surrounding the compact object. X-rays and gamma-rays are produced in an intrabinary shock front between the relativistic pulsar wind and matter from the companion and an outer accretion disc. The intense spin-down power irradiates the disc and the companion star, accounting for the UV and optical emissions.
Context. Our knowledge of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has significatively improved in the Swift era. Rapid multiband observations from the largest ground-based observatories led to the discovery of ...the optical afterglows and host galaxies of these events. In spite of these advancements, the number of short GRBs with secure detections in the optical is still fairly small. Short GRBs are commonly thought to originate from the merging of double compact object binaries but direct evidence for this scenario is still missing. Aims. Optical observations of short GRBs allow us to measure redshifts, firmly identify host galaxies, characterize their properties, and accurately localize GRBs within them. Multiwavelength observations of GRB afterglows provide useful information on the emission mechanisms at work. These are all key issues that allow one to discriminate among different models of these elusive events. Methods. We carried out photometric observations of the short/hard GRB 051227, GRB 061006, and GRB 071227 with the ESO-VLT starting from several hours after the explosion down to the host galaxy level several days later. For GRB 061006 and GRB 071227 we also obtained spectroscopic observations of the host galaxy. We compared the results obtained from our optical observations with the available X-ray data of these bursts. Results. For all the three above bursts, we discovered optical afterglows and firmly identified their host galaxies. About half a day after the burst, the optical afterglows of GRB 051227 and GRB 061006 present a decay significatly steeper than in the X-rays. In the case of GRB 051227, the optical decay is so steep that it likely indicates different emission mechanisms in the two wavelength ranges. The three hosts are blue star forming galaxies at moderate redshifts and with metallicities comparable to the Solar one. The projected offsets of the optical afterglows from their host galaxy center span a wide range, but all afterglows lie within the light of their hosts and present evidence for local absorption in their X-ray spectra. We discuss our findings in light of the current models of short GRB progenitors.
One of the most elusive features of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is the sporadic emission prior to the main prompt event observed in at least ~15% of cases. These precursors have spectral and temporal ...properties similar to the main prompt emission, and smaller, but comparable, energetics. They are separated from the main event by a quiescent time that may be extremely long, and, in some cases, more than one precursor has been observed in the same burst. Precursors are still a puzzle: despite many attempts, none of the proposed models can account for all the observed features. Based on the complete sample of bright long GRBs observed by Swift (BAT6), we propose a new scenario for which precursors are explained by assuming that the central GRB engine is a newly born magnetar. In this model the precursor and the prompt emission arise from accretion of matter onto the surface of the magnetar. The accretion process can be halted by the centrifugal drag exerted by the rotating magnetosphere onto the infalling matter, allowing for multiple precursors and very long quiescent times.
We present ground-based and Hubble Space Telescope optical and infrared observations of Swift XRF 100316D/SN 2010bh. It is seen that the optical light curves of SN 2010bh evolve at a faster rate than ...the archetype gamma-ray burst supernova (GRB-SN) 1998bw, but at a similar rate to SN 2006aj, an SN that was spectroscopically linked with XRF 060218, and at a similar rate to the non-GRB associated Type Ic SN 1994I. We estimate the rest-frame extinction of this event from our optical data to be E(B -- V) = 0.18 ? 0.08 mag. We find the V-band absolute magnitude of SN 2010bh to be MV = --18.62 ? 0.08, which is the faintest peak V-band magnitude observed to date for spectroscopically confirmed GRB-SNe. When we investigate the origin of the flux at t -- t 0 = 0.598 days, it is shown that the light is not synchrotron in origin, but is likely coming from the SN shock breakout. We then use our optical and infrared data to create a quasi-bolometric light curve of SN 2010bh, which we model with a simple analytical formula. The results of our modeling imply that SN 2010bh synthesized a nickel mass of M Ni 0.1 M , ejected M ej 2.2 M , and has an explosion energy of E k 1.4 X 1052 erg. Thus, while SN 2010bh is an energetic explosion, the amount of nickel created during the explosion is much less than that of SN 1998bw and only marginally more than SN 1994I. Finally, for a sample of 22 GRB-SNe we check for a correlation between the stretch factors and luminosity factors in the R band and conclude that no statistically significant correlation exists.
On 2008 May 14, the Burst Alert Telescope onboard the Swift mission triggered on a type-I X-ray burst from the previously unclassified ROSAT object 1RXH J173523.7−354013, establishing the source as a ...neutron star X-ray binary. We report on X-ray, optical and near-infrared observations of this system. The X-ray burst had a duration of ∼2 h and belongs to the class of rare, intermediately long type-I X-ray bursts. From the bolometric peak flux of ∼3.5 × 10−8 erg cm−2 s−1, we infer a source distance of D≲ 9.5 kpc. Photometry of the field reveals an optical counterpart that declined from R= 15.9 during the X-ray burst to R= 18.9 thereafter. Analysis of post-burst Swift/X-ray Telescope observations as well as archival XMM–Newton and ROSAT data suggests that the system is persistent at a 0.5–10 keV luminosity of ∼2 × 1035 (D/9.5 kpc)2 erg s−1. Optical and infrared photometry together with the detection of a narrow Hα emission line (full width at half maximum = 292 ± 9 km s−1, equivalent width =−9.0 ± 0.4 Å) in the optical spectrum confirms that 1RXH J173523.7−354013 is a neutron star low-mass X-ray binary. The Hα emission demonstrates that the donor star is hydrogen rich, which effectively rules out that this system is an ultracompact X-ray binary.
Abstract
We investigate whether there is any correlation between the X-ray afterglow luminosity and the prompt emission properties of a carefully selected sub-sample of bright Swift long Gamma-ray ...bursts (GRBs) nearly complete in redshift (∼90 per cent). Being free of selection effects (except flux limit), this sample provides the possibility to compare the rest frame physical properties of GRB prompt and afterglow emission in an unbiased way. The afterglow X-ray luminosities are computed at four different rest frame times (5 min, 1 h, 11 h and 24 h after trigger) and compared with the prompt emission isotropic energy E
iso, the isotropic peak luminosity L
iso and the rest frame peak energy E
peak. We find that the rest frame afterglow X-ray luminosity do correlate with these prompt emission quantities, but the significance of each correlation decreases over time. This result is in agreement with the idea that the GRB X-ray light curve can be described as the result of a combination of different components whose relative contribution and weight change with time, with the prompt and afterglow emission dominating at early and late time, respectively. In particular, we found evidence that the plateau and the shallow decay phase often observed in GRB X-ray light curves are powered by activity from the central engine. The existence of the L
X - E
iso correlation at late times () suggests a similar radiative efficiency among different bursts with on average about 6 per cent of the total kinetic energy powering the prompt emission.
We present the results of a spectroscopic search for narrow emission and absorption features in the X-ray spectra of long gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows. Using XMM-Newton data, both EPIC and RGS ...spectra, of six bright (fluence > 10-7 erg cm-2) and relatively nearby (z = 0.54−1.41) GRBs, we performed a blind search for emission or absorption lines that could be related to a high cloud density or metal-rich gas in the environ close to the GRBs. We detected five emission features in four of the six GRBs with an overall statistical significance, assessed through Monte Carlo simulations, of ≲ 3.0σ. Most of the lines are detected around the observed energy of the oxygen edge at ~ 0.5 keV, suggesting that they are not related to the GRB environment but are most likely of Galactic origin. No significant absorption features were detected. A spectral fitting with a free Galactic column density (NH) testing different models for the Galactic absorption confirms this origin because we found an indication of an excess of Galactic NH in these four GRBs with respect to the tabulated values.
Short duration gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) are thought to be related to the violent merger of compact objects, such as neutron stars or black holes, which makes them promising sources of gravitational ...waves. The detection of a "kilonova"- likesignature associated to the Swift-detected GRB 130603B has suggested that this event is the result of a compact object merger. Our knowledge on SGRB has been, until now, mostly based on the absence of supernova signatures and the analysis of the host galaxies to which they cannot always be securely associated. Further progress has been significantly hampered by the faintness and rapid fading of their optical counterparts (afterglows), which has so far precluded spectroscopy of such events. Afterglow spectroscopy is the key tool to firmly determine the distance at which the burst was produced, crucial to understand its physics, and study its local environment. The merger is not associated with the most star-forming region of the galaxy; however, it did occur in a dense region, implying a rapid merger or a low natal kick velocity for the compact object binary.
We report our observation of the short gamma-ray burst (GRB) GRB 170817A, associated to the binary neutron star merger gravitational wave (GW) event GW 170817, performed in the X-ray band with ...XMM-Newton 135 d after the event (on 29 December, 2017). We find evidence for a flattening of the X-ray light curve with respect to the previously observed brightening. This is also supported by a nearly simultaneous optical Hubble Space Telescope observation and successive X-ray Chandra and low-frequency radio observations recently reported in the literature. Since the optical-to-X-ray spectral slope did not change with respect to previous observations, we exclude that the change in the temporal evolution of the light curve is due to the passage of the cooling frequency: its origin must be geometric or dynamical. We interpret all the existing afterglow data with two models: i) a structured jet and ii) a jet-less isotropic fireball with some stratification in its radial velocity structure. Both models fit the data and predict that the radio flux must decrease simultaneously with the optical and X-ray emission, making it difficult to distinguish between them at the present stage. Polarimetric measurements and the rate of short GRB-GW associations in future LIGO/Virgo runs will be key to disentangle these two geometrically different scenarios.
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