Despite a rich phenomenology, γ-ray bursts (GRBs) are divided into two classes based on their duration and spectral hardness-the long-soft and the short-hard bursts. The discovery of afterglow ...emission from long GRBs was a watershed event, pinpointing their origin to star-forming galaxies, and hence the death of massive stars, and indicating an energy release of about 1051 erg. While theoretical arguments suggest that short GRBs are produced in the coalescence of binary compact objects (neutron stars or black holes), the progenitors, energetics and environments of these events remain elusive despite recent localizations. Here we report the discovery of the first radio afterglow from the short burst GRB 050724, which unambiguously associates it with an elliptical galaxy at a redshift z = 0.257. We show that the burst is powered by the same relativistic fireball mechanism as long GRBs, with the ejecta possibly collimated in jets, but that the total energy release is 10-1,000 times smaller. More importantly, the nature of the host galaxy demonstrates that short GRBs arise from an old (> 1 Gyr) stellar population, strengthening earlier suggestions and providing support for coalescing compact object binaries as the progenitors.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We present a sensitive search with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array for the radio counterpart of the gravitational wave candidate S191216ap, which is classified as a binary black hole merger and ...suggested to be a possible multimessenger event, based on the detection of a high-energy neutrino and a TeV photon. We carried out a blind search at C band (4–8 GHz) over 0.3 deg2 of the gamma-ray counterpart of S191216ap reported by the High-Altitude Water Cerenkov Observatory (HAWC). Our search, spanning three epochs over 130 days of postmerger and having a mean source-detection threshold of 75 μJy beam−1 (4σ), yielded five variable sources associated with active galactic nucleus activity and no definitive counterpart of S191216ap. We find <2% (3.0% ± 1.3%) of the persistent radio sources at 6 GHz to be variable on a timescale of <1 week (week–months), consistent with previous radio variability studies. Our 4σ radio luminosity upper limit of ∼1.2 × 1028 erg s−1 Hz−1 on the afterglow of S191216ap, within the HAWC error region, is 5–10 times deeper than previous binary black hole (BBH) radio afterglow searches. Comparing this upper limit with theoretical expectations given by Perna et al. for putative jets launched by BBH mergers, for on-axis jets with energy ≃1049 erg, we can rule out jet opening angles ≲ 20° (assuming that the counterpart lies within the 1σ HAWC region that we observed).
Abstract
We report the results of careful astrometric measurements of the cannonball pulsar J0002+6216 carried out over 3 yr using the High Sensitivity Array. We significantly refine the proper ...motion to
μ
= 35.3 ± 0.6 mas yr
−1
and place new constraints on the distance, with the overall effect of lowering the velocity and increasing the inferred age to 47.60 ± 0.80 kyr. Although the pulsar is brought more in line with the standard natal kick distribution, this new velocity has implications for the morphology of the pulsar wind nebula that surrounds it, the density of the interstellar medium through which it travels, and the age of the supernova remnant (CTB 1) from which it originates.
ABSTRACT We have used the 150 MHz radio continuum survey (TGSS ADR) from the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to search for phase-averaged emission toward all well-localized radio pulsars north ...of −53° decl. We detect emission toward 200 pulsars with high confidence ( ) and another 88 pulsars at fainter levels. We show that most of our identifications are likely from pulsars, except for a small number where the measured flux density is confused by an associated supernova or pulsar-wind nebula, or a globular cluster. We investigate the radio properties of the 150 MHz sample and find an unusually high number of gamma-ray binary millisecond pulsars with very steep spectral indices. We also note a discrepancy in the measured flux densities between GMRT and LOFAR pulsar samples, suggesting that the flux density scale for the LOFAR pulsar sample may be in error by approximately a factor of two. We carry out a separate search of 30 well-localized gamma-ray, radio-quiet pulsars in an effort to detect a widening of the radio beam into the line of sight at lower frequencies. No steep-spectrum emission was detected either toward individual pulsars or in a weighted stack of all 30 images.
Abstract
We describe an image-based method that uses two radio criteria, compactness, and spectral index, to identify promising pulsar candidates among Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) unassociated ...sources. These criteria are applied to those radio sources from the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope all-sky survey at 150 MHz (TGSS ADR1) found within the error ellipses of unassociated sources from the 3FGL catalogue and a preliminary source list based on 7 yr of LAT data. After follow-up interferometric observations to identify extended or variable sources, a list of 16 compact, steep-spectrum candidates is generated. An ongoing search for pulsations in these candidates, in gamma rays and radio, has found 6 ms pulsars and one normal pulsar. A comparison of this method with existing selection criteria based on gamma-ray spectral and variability properties suggests that the pulsar discovery space using Fermi may be larger than previously thought. Radio imaging is a hitherto underutilized source selection method that can be used, as with other multiwavelength techniques, in the search for Fermi pulsars.
Past studies have suggested that long-duration γ-ray bursts have a 'standard' energy of Eγ 1051 erg in the ultra-relativistic ejecta, after correcting for asymmetries in the explosion ('jets'). But a ...group of sub-energetic bursts, including the peculiar GRB980425 associated with the supernova SN1998bw (Eγ 1048 erg), has recently been identified. Here we report radio observations of GRB030329 that allow us to undertake calorimetry of the explosion. Our data require a two-component explosion: a narrow (5° opening angle) ultra-relativistic component responsible for the γ-rays and early afterglow, and a wide, mildly relativistic component that produces the radio and optical afterglow more than 1.5 days after the explosion. The total energy release, which is dominated by the wide component, is similar to that of other γ-ray bursts, but the contribution of the γ-rays is energetically minor. Given the firm link of GRB030329 with SN2003dh, our result indicates a common origin for cosmic explosions in which, for reasons not yet understood, the energy in the highest-velocity ejecta is extremely variable.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
We present the full panchromatic afterglow light-curve data of GW170817, including new radio data as well as archival optical and X-ray data, between 0.5 and 940 days post-merger. By ...compiling all archival data and reprocessing a subset of it, we have evaluated the impact of differences in data processing or flux determination methods used by different groups and attempted to mitigate these differences to provide a more uniform data set. Simple power-law fits to the uniform afterglow light curve indicate a
t
0.86±0.04
rise, a
t
−1.92±0.12
decline, and a peak occurring at 155 ± 4 days. The afterglow is optically thin throughout its evolution, consistent with a single spectral index (−0.584 ± 0.002) across all epochs. This gives a precise and updated estimate of the electron power-law index,
p
= 2.168 ± 0.004. By studying the diffuse X-ray emission from the host galaxy, we place a conservative upper limit on the hot ionized interstellar medium density, <0.01 cm
−3
, consistent with previous afterglow studies. Using the late-time afterglow data we rule out any long-lived neutron star remnant having a magnetic field strength between 10
10.4
and 10
16
G. Our fits to the afterglow data using an analytical model that includes Very Long Baseline Interferometry proper motion from Mooley et al., and a structured jet model that ignores the proper motion, indicates that the proper-motion measurement needs to be considered when seeking an accurate estimate of the viewing angle.
We report on a search for steep spectrum radio sources within the 95 per cent confidence error ellipses of the Fermi unassociated sources from the Large Area Telescope (LAT). Using existing ...catalogues and the newly released Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope all-sky survey at 150 MHz, we identify compact radio sources that are bright at MHz frequencies but faint or absent at GHz frequencies. Such steep spectrum radio sources are rare and constitute a sample of pulsar candidates, selected independently of period, dispersion measure, interstellar scattering and orbital parameters. We find point-like, steep spectrum candidates towards 11 Fermi sources. Based on the gamma-ray/radio positional coincidence, the rarity of such radio sources, and the properties of the 3FGL sources themselves, we argue that many of these sources could be pulsars. They may have been missed by previous radio periodicity searches due to interstellar propagation effects or because they lie in an unusually tight binary. If this hypothesis is correct, then renewed gamma-ray and radio periodicity searches at the positions of the steep spectrum radio sources may reveal pulsations.
ABSTRACT Long duration γ-ray bursts are a rare subclass of stripped-envelope core-collapse supernovae (SNe) that launch collimated relativistic outflows (jets). All γ-ray-burst-associated SNe are ...spectroscopically Type Ic, with broad-lines, but the fraction of broad-lined SNe Ic harboring low-luminosity γ-ray bursts remains largely unconstrained. Some SNe should be accompanied by off-axis γ-ray burst jets that initially remain invisible, but then emerge as strong radio sources (as the jets decelerate). However, this critical prediction of the jet model for γ-ray bursts has yet to be verified observationally. Here, we present K. G. Jansky Very Large Array observations of 15 broad-lined SNe of Type Ic discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory in an untargeted manner. Most of the SNe in our sample exclude radio emission observationally similar to that of the radio-loud, relativistic SN 1998bw. We constrain the fraction of 1998bw-like broad-lined SNe Ic to be (99.865% confidence). Most of the events in our sample also exclude off-axis jets similar to GRB 031203 and GRB 030329, but we cannot rule out off-axis γ-ray bursts expanding in a low-density wind environment. Three SNe in our sample are detected in the radio. PTF11qcj and PTF14dby show late-time radio emission with average ejecta speeds of 0.3-0.4 c, on the dividing line between relativistic and "ordinary" SNe. The speed of PTF11cmh radio ejecta is poorly constrained. We estimate that (99.865% confidence) of the broad-lined SNe Ic in our sample may harbor off-axis γ-ray bursts expanding in media with densities in the range probed by this study.
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