Abstract
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are classified into long and short events. Long GRBs (LGRBs) are associated with the end states of very massive stars, while short GRBs (SGRBs) are linked to the ...merger of compact objects. GRB 200826A was a peculiar event, because by definition it was an SGRB, with a rest-frame duration of ∼0.5 s. However, this event was energetic and soft, which is consistent with LGRBs. The relatively low redshift (
z
= 0.7486) motivated a comprehensive, multiwavelength follow-up campaign to characterize its host, search for a possible associated supernova (SN), and thus understand the origin of this burst. To this aim we obtained a combination of deep near-infrared (NIR) and optical imaging together with spectroscopy. Our analysis reveals an optical and NIR bump in the light curve whose luminosity and evolution are in agreement with several SNe associated to LGRBs. Analysis of the prompt GRB shows that this event follows the
E
p,i
–
E
iso
relation found for LGRBs. The host galaxy is a low-mass star-forming galaxy, typical of LGRBs, but with one of the highest star formation rates, especially with respect to its mass (
log
M
*
/
M
⊙
=
8.6
, SFR ∼ 4.0
M
⊙
yr
−1
). We conclude that GRB 200826A is a typical collapsar event in the low tail of the duration distribution of LGRBs. These findings support theoretical predictions that events produced by collapsars can be as short as 0.5 s in the host frame and further confirm that duration alone is not an efficient discriminator for the progenitor class of a GRB.
ABSTRACT
Multimessenger astronomy received a great boost following the discovery of kilonova (KN) AT2017gfo, the optical counterpart of the gravitational wave source GW170817 associated with the ...short gamma-ray burst GRB 170817A. AT2017gfo was the first KN that could be extensively monitored in time using both photometry and spectroscopy. Previously, only few candidates have been observed against the glare of short GRB afterglows. In this work, we aim to search the fingerprints of AT2017gfo-like KN emissions in the optical/NIR light curves of 39 short GRBs with known redshift. For the first time, our results allow us to study separately the range of luminosity of the blue and red components of AT2017gfo-like kilonovae in short GRBs. In particular, the red component is similar in luminosity to AT2017gfo, while the blue KN can be more than 10 times brighter. Finally, we exclude a KN as luminous as AT2017gfo in GRBs 050509B and 061201.
ABSTRACT
Short gamma‐ray bursts (SGRBs) observed by Swift potentially reveal the first insight into cataclysmic compact object mergers. To ultimately acquire a fundamental understanding of these ...events requires pan‐spectral observations and knowledge of their spatial distribution to differentiate between proposed progenitor populations. Up to 2012 April, there are only some 30 per cent of SGRBs with reasonably firm redshifts, and this sample is highly biased by the limited sensitivity of Swift to detect SGRBs. We account for the dominant biases to calculate a realistic SGRB rate density out to z ≈ 0.5 using the Swift sample of peak fluxes, redshifts and those SGRBs with a beaming angle constraint from X‐ray/optical observations. We find an SGRB lower rate density of 8−3+5 Gpc −3 yr −1 (assuming isotropic emission) and a beaming corrected upper limit of 1100−470+700 Gpc −3 yr −1. Assuming a significant fraction of binary neutron star mergers produce SGRBs, we calculate lower and upper detection rate limits of (1–180) yr−1 by an Advanced LIGO (aLIGO) and Virgo coincidence search. Our detection rate is similar to the lower and realistic rates inferred from extrapolations using Galactic pulsar observations and population synthesis.
The discovery of a number of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with duration exceeding 1000 s has opened the debate on whether these bursts form a new class of sources, the so-called ultra-long GRBs, or if ...they are rather the tail of the distribution of the standard long GRB duration. Using the long GRB sample detected by Swift, we investigate the statistical properties of long GRBs and compare them with the ultra-long burst properties. We compute the burst duration of long GRBs using the start epoch of the so-called "steep decay" phase detected with Swift/XRT. We discuss also the differences observed in their spectral properties. We find that ultra-long GRBs are statistically different from the standard long GRBs with typical burst duration less than 100-500 s, for which a Wolf-Rayet star progenitor is usually invoked. Together with the presence of a thermal emission component we interpret this result as indication that the usual long GRB progenitor scenario cannot explain the extreme duration of ultra-long GRBs, their energetics, as well as the mass reservoir and size that can feed the central engine for such a long time.
In this article we further constrain the phenomenology and progenitor properties of this peculiar GRB by performing a multiband temporal and spectral analysis of both the prompt and the afterglow ...emission. We use proprietary and publicly available data from Swift, Konus WIND, XMM-Newton, and TAROT, as well as from other ground-based optical and radio telescopes. We find some peculiar properties that are possibly connected to the exceptional nature of this burst, namely: (1) an unprecedented large optical delay of 410 + or - 50 s between the peak time in gamma-rays and the peak time in the optical of a marked multiwavelength flare; (2) multiwavelength prompt emission spectral modeling requires a certain amount of dust in the circumburst environment. (3) we detect the presence of a hard spectral extra power-law component at the end of the X-ray steep steep decay phase and before the start of the X-ray afterglow, which has never been revealed thus far in past GRBs.
Abstract
Ultra-long gamma-ray bursts are a class of high-energy transients lasting several hours. Their exact nature is still elusive, and several models have been proposed to explain them. Because ...of the limited coverage of wide-field gamma-ray detectors, the study of their prompt phase with sensitive narrow-field X-ray instruments could help in understanding the origin of ultra-long GRBs. However, the observers face a true problem in rapidly activating follow-up observations, due to the challenging identification of an ultra-long GRB before the end of the prompt phase. We present here a comparison of the prompt properties available after a few tens of minutes of a sample of ultra-long GRBs and normal long GRBs, looking for prior indicators of the long duration. We find that there is no such clear prior indicator of the duration of the burst. We also found that statistically, a burst lasting at least 10 and 20 minutes has respectively $28{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ and $50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ probability to be an ultralong event. These findings point towards a common central engine for normal long and ultra-long GRBs, with the collapsar model privileged.
Aims. We investigate a model for the shallow decay phases of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows discovered by Swift/XRT in the first hours following a GRB event. In the context of the fireball ...scenario, we consider the possibility that long-lived energy injection from a millisecond spinning, ultramagnetic neutron star (magnetar) powers afterglow emission during this phase. Methods. We consider the energy evolution in a relativistic shock that is subject to both radiative losses and energy injection from a spinning down magnetar in spherical symmetry. We model the energy injection term through magnetic dipole losses and discuss an approximate treatment for the dynamical evolution of the blastwave. We obtain an analytic solution for the energy evolution in the shock and associated lightcurves. To fully illustrate the potential of our solution we calculate lightcurves for a few selected X-ray afterglows observed by Swift and fit them using our theoretical lightcurves. Results. Our solution naturally describes in a single picture the properties of the shallow decay phase and the transition to the so-called normal decay phase. In particular, we obtain remarkably good fits to X-ray afterglows for plausible parameters of the magnetar. Even though approximate, our treatment provides a step forward with respect to previously adopted approximations and provides additional support of the idea that a millisecond spinning (1–3 ms), ultramagnetic (B ~ 1014−1015 G) neutron star loosing spin energy through magnetic dipole radiation can explain the luminosity, durations and shapes of X-ray GRB afterglows.
GRB 130427A was the brightest gamma-ray burst detected in the last 30 yr. With an equivalent isotropic energy output of 8.5 × 1053 erg and redshift z = 0.34, it uniquely combined very high energetics ...with a relative proximity to Earth. As a consequence, its X-ray afterglow has been detected by sensitive X-ray observatories such as XMM–Newton and Chandra for a record-breaking baseline longer than 80 million seconds. We present the X-ray light curve of this event over such an interval. The light curve shows a simple power-law decay with a slope α = 1.309 ± 0.007 over more than three decades in time (47 ks–83 Ms). We discuss the consequences of this result for a few models proposed so far to interpret GRB 130427A, and more in general the significance of this outcome in the context of the standard forward shock model. We find that this model has difficulty in explaining our data, in both cases of constant density and stellar-wind circumburst media, and requires far-fetched values for the physical parameters involved.
THESEUS, one of the two space mission concepts being studied by ESA as candidates for next M5 mission within its Comsic Vision programme, aims at fully exploiting Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) to solve key ...questions about the early Universe, as well as becoming a cornerstone of multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics. By investigating the first billion years of the Universe through high-redshift GRBs, THESEUS will shed light on the main open issues in modern cosmology, such as the population of primordial low mass and luminosity galaxies, sources and evolution of cosmic re-ionization, SFR and metallicity evolution up to the “cosmic dawn” and across Pop-III stars. At the same time, the mission will provide a substantial advancement of multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics by enabling the identification, accurate localisation and study of electromagnetic counterparts to sources of gravitational waves and neutrinos, which will be routinely detected in the late ‘20s and early ‘30s by the second and third generation Gravitational Wave (GW) interferometers and future neutrino detectors, as well as of all kinds of GRBs and most classes of other X/gamma-ray transient sources. Under all these respects, THESEUS will provide great synergies with future large observing facilities in the multi-messenger domain. A Guest Observer programme, comprising Target of Opportunity (ToO) observations, will expand the science return of the mission, to include, e.g., solar system minor bodies, exoplanets, and AGN.
Abstract The existence of a secondary (in addition to compact object mergers) source of heavy element ( r -process) nucleosynthesis, the core-collapse of rapidly rotating and highly magnetized ...massive stars, has been suggested by both simulations and indirect observational evidence. Here, we probe a predicted signature of r -process enrichment, a late-time (≳40 days post-burst) distinct red color, in observations of gamma-ray burst supernovae (GRB-SNe), which are linked to these massive star progenitors. We present optical to near-IR color measurements of four GRB-SNe at z ≲ 0.4, extending out to >500 days post-burst, obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and large-aperture ground-based telescopes. Comparison of our observations to models indicates that GRBs 030329, 100316D, and 130427A are consistent with both no enrichment and producing 0.01–0.15 M ⊙ of r -process material if there is a low amount of mixing between the inner r -process ejecta and outer supernova (SN) layers. GRB 190829A is not consistent with any models with r -process enrichment ≥0.01 M ⊙ . Taken together the sample of GRB-SNe indicates color diversity at late times. Our derived yields from GRB-SNe may be underestimated due to r -process material hidden in the SN ejecta (potentially due to low mixing fractions) or the limits of current models in measuring r -process mass. We conclude with recommendations for future search strategies to observe and probe the full distribution of r -process produced by GRB-SNe.
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