Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userFast-transient Searches in Real Time with ZTFReST: Identification of Three Optically-discovered Gamma-ray Burst Afterglows and New Constraints on the Kilonova Rate
510
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
While optical surveys regularly discover slow transients like supernovae on their own, the most common way to discover extragalactic fast transients, fading away in a few nights, is via follow-up observations of gamma-ray burst and gravitational-wave triggers. However, wide-field surveys have the potential to also identify rapidly fading transients independently of such external triggers. The volumetric survey speed of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) makes it sensitive to faint and fast-fading objects as kilonovae, the optical counterparts to binary neutron stars and neutron star-black hole mergers, out to almost 200Mpc. We introduce an open-source software infrastructure, the ZTF REaltime Search and Triggering, ZTFReST, designed to identify kilonovae and fast optical transients in ZTF data. Using the ZTF alert stream combined with forced photometry, we have implemented automated candidate ranking based on their photometric evolution and fitting to kilonova models. Automated triggering of follow-up systems, such as Las Cumbres Observatory, has also been implemented. In 13 months of science validation, we found several extragalactic fast transients independent of any external trigger (though some counterparts were identified later), including at least one supernova with post-shock cooling emission, two known afterglows with an associated gamma-ray burst, two known afterglows without any known gamma-ray counterpart, and three new fast-declining sources (ZTF20abtxwfx, ZTF20acozryr, and ZTF21aagwbjr) that are likely associated with GRB200817A, GRB201103B, and GRB210204A. However, we have not found any objects which appear to be kilonovae; therefore, we constrain the rate of GW170817-like kilonovae to $R < 900$Gpc$^{-3}$yr$^{-1}$. A framework such as ZTFReST could become a prime tool for kilonova and fast transient discovery with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.
rate research
Read More
The first binary neutron star merger, GW170817, was accompanied by a radioactivity-powered optical/infrared transient called a kilonova. To date, no compelling kilonova has been found during optical surveys of the sky, independent of gravitational-wave triggers. In this work, we searched the first 23 months of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) data stream for candidate kilonovae in the form of rapidly evolving transients. We combined ZTF alert queries with forced point-spread-function photometry and nightly flux stacking to increase our sensitivity to faint and fast transients. Automatic queries yielded $>11,200$ candidates, 24 of which passed quality checks and strict selection criteria based on a grid of kilonova models tailored for both binary neutron star and neutron star-black hole mergers. None of the candidates in our sample was deemed a possible kilonova after thorough vetting, catalog cross-matching, and study of their color evolution. The sources that passed our selection criteria are dominated by Galactic cataclysmic variables. In addition, we identified two fast transients at high Galactic latitude, one of which is the confirmed afterglow of long-duration GRB190106A, and the other is a possible cosmological afterglow. Using a survey simulation code, we constrained the kilonova rate for a range of models including top-hat and linearly decaying light curves and synthetic light curves obtained with radiative transfer simulations. For prototypical GW170817-like kilonovae, we constrain the rate to be $R < 1775$ Gpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$ at 95% confidence level by requiring at least 2 high-significance detections. By assuming a population of kilonovae with the same geometry and composition of GW170817 observed under a uniform viewing angle distribution, we obtained a constraint on the rate of $R < 4029$ Gpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$.
In order to study the effect of dust extinction on the afterglow of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), we carry out numerical calculations with high precision based on rigorous Mie theory and latest optical properties of interstellar dust grains, and analyze the different extinction curves produced by dust grains with different physical parameters. Our results indicate that the absolute extinction quantity is substantially determined by the medium density and metallicity. However, the shape of the extinction curve is mainly determined by the size distribution of the dust grains. If the dust grains aggregate to form larger ones, they will cause a flatter or grayer extinction curve with lower extinction quantity. On the contrary, if the dust grains are disassociated to smaller ones due to some uncertain processes, they will cause a steeper extinction curve with larger amount of extinction. These results might provide an important insight into understanding the origin of the optically dark GRBs.
Aims: Drawing an analogy with Active Galactic Nuclei, we investigate the one-zone SSC model of Gamma Ray Bursts afterglows in the presence of electron injection and cooling both by synchrotron and SSC losses. Methods: We solve the spatially averaged kinetic equations which describe the simultaneous evolution of particles and photons, obtaining the multi-wavelength spectrum as a function of time. We back up our numerical calculations with analytical solutions of the equations using various profiles of the magnetic field evolution under certain simplifying assumptions. Results: We apply the model to the afterglow evolution of GRBs in a uniform density environment and examine the impact various parameters have on the multiwavelength spectra. We find that in cases where the electron injection and/or the ambient density is high, the losses are dominated by SSC and the solutions depart significantly from the ones derived in the synchrotron standard cases.
X-ray observations of sdO stars are a useful tool to investigate their properties, but so far only two sdO stars were detected at X-rays. We observed a complete flux-limited sample of 19 sdO stars with the Chandra HRC-I camera to measure the count rate of the detected sources or to set a tight upper limit on it for the undetected sources. We obtained a robust detection of BD+37 1977 and Feige 34 and a marginal detection of BD+28 4211. The estimated luminosity of BD+37 1977 is above 10^31 erg/s, which is high enough to suggest the possible presence of an accreting compact companion. This possibility is unlikely for all the other targets (both detected and undetected), since in their case L_X < 10^30 erg/s. On the other hand, for all 19 targets the estimated value of L_X (or its upper limit) implies an X-ray/bolometric flux ratio that agrees with log(L_X/L_bol) = -6.7 +/- 0.5, which is the range of values typical of main-sequence and giant O stars. Therefore, for Feige 34 and BD+28 4211 the observed X-ray flux is most probably due to intrinsic emission. The same is possibile for the 16 undetected stars.
We study thermal emission from circumstellar structures heated by gamma-ray burst (GRB) radiation and ejecta and calculate its contribution to GRB optical and X-ray afterglows using the modified radiation hydro-code small STELLA. It is shown that thermal emission originating in heated dense shells around the GRB progenitor star can reproduce X-ray plateaus (like observed in GRB 050904, 070110) as well as deviations from a power law fading observed in optical afterglows of some GRBs (e.g. 020124, 030328, 030429X, 050904). Thermal radiation pressure in the heated circumburst shell dominates the gas pressure, producing rapid expansion of matter similar to supenova-like explosions close to opacity or radiation flux density jumps in the circumburst medium. This phenomenon can be responsible for so-called supernova bumps in optical afterglows of several GRBs. Such a `quasi-supernova suggests interpretation of the GRB-SN connection which does not directly involve the explosion of the GRB progenitor star.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
