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Register a new userThe Broken Light Curves of Gamma-Ray Bursts GRB 990123 and GRB 990510
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S. Holland
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We have collected all of the published photometry for GRB 990123 and GRB 990510, the first two gamma-ray bursts where breaks were seen in the light curves of their optical afterglows, and determined the shapes of their light curves and the break times. These parameters were used to investigate the physical mechanisms responsible for the breaks and the nature of the ambient medium that the bursts occurred in. The light curve for GRB 990123 is best fit by a broken power law with a break 1.68 +/- 0.19 days after the burst, a slope of alpha1 = -1.12 +/- 0.08 before the break, and a slope of alpha2 = -1.69 +/- 0.06 after the break. This is consistent with a collimated outflow with a fixed opening angle (theta0) of approximately five degrees. In this case the break in the light curve is due to the relativistic fireball slowing to a gamma factor of approximately 1 / theta0. The light curve for GRB 990510 is best fit by a continuous function with an early-time slope of alpha1 = -0.54 +/- 0.14, a late-time slope of alpha2 = -1.98 +/- 0.19, and a slow transition between the two regimes approximately one day after the burst. This is consistent with a collimated outflow with an opening angle of approximately five degrees that is initially radiative, but undergoes a sideways expansion that begins approximately one day after the burst. This sideways expansion is responsible for the slow break in the light curve.
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Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are thought to result from the interaction of an extremely relativistic outflow interacting with a small amount of material surrounding the site of the explosion. Multi-wavelength observations covering the gamma-ray to radio wavebands allow investigations of this `fireball model. On 23 January 1999 optical emission was detected while the gamma-ray burst was still underway. Here we report the results of gamma-ray, optical/infra-red, sub-mm, mm and radio observations of this burst and its afterglow, which indicate that the prompt and afterglow emissions from GRB 990123 are associated with three distinct regions in the fireball. The afterglow one day after the burst has a much lower peak frequency than those of previous bursts; this explains the short-lived nature of the radio emission, which is not expected to reappear. We suggest that such differences reflect variations in the magnetic-field strengths in the afterglow emitting regions.
GRB 990123 was the first burst from which simultaneous optical, X-ray and gamma-ray emission was detected; its afterglow has been followed by an extensive set of radio, optical and X-ray observations. We have studied the gamma-ray burst itself as observed by the CGRO detectors. We find that gamma-ray fluxes are not correlated with the simultaneous optical observations, and the gamma-ray spectra cannot be extrapolated simply to the optical fluxes. The burst is well fit by the standard four-parameter GRB function, with the exception that excess emission compared to this function is observed below ~15 keV during some time intervals. The burst is characterized by the typical hard-to-soft and hardness-intensity correlation spectral evolution patterns. The energy of the peak of the nu f_nu spectrum, E_p, reaches an unusually high value during the first intensity spike, 1470 +/- 110 keV, and then falls to ~300 keV during the tail of the burst. The high-energy spectrum above ~MeV is consistent with a power law with a photon index of about -3. By fluence, GRB 990123 is brighter than all but 0.4% of the GRBs observed with BATSE, clearly placing it on the -3/2 power-law portion of the intensity distribution. However, the redshift measured for the afterglow is inconsistent with the Euclidean interpretation of the -3/2 power-law. Using the redshift value of >= 1.61 and assuming isotropic emission, the gamma-ray fluence exceeds 10E54 ergs.
We present deep images of the field of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 990123 obtained in a broad-band UV/visible bandpass with the Hubble Space Telescope, and deep near-infrared images obtained with the Keck-I 10-m telescope. Both the HST and Keck images show that the optical transient (OT) is clearly offset by 0.6 arcsec from an extended object, presumably the host galaxy. This galaxy is the most likely source of the metallic-line absorption at z = 1.6004 seen in the spectrum of the OT. With magnitudes V_{C} ~ 24.6 +/- 0.2 and K = 21.65 +/- 0.30 mag this corresponds to an L ~ 0.7 L_* galaxy, assuming that it is located at z = 1.6. The estimated unobscured star formation rate is SFR ~ 6 M_sun/yr, which is not unusually high for normal galaxies at comparable redshifts. The strength of the observed metallic absorption lines is suggestive of a relatively high metallicity of the gas, and thus of a chemically evolved system which may be associated with a massive galaxy. It is also indicative of a high column density of the gas, typical of damped Ly-alpha systems at high redshifts. We conclude that this is the host galaxy of GRB 990123. No other obvious galaxies are detected within the same projected radius from the OT. There is thus no evidence for strong gravitational lensing magnification of this burst, and some alternative explanation for its remarkable energetics may be required. The observed offset of the OT from the center of its apparent host galaxy, 5.5 +/- 0.9 proper kpc (projected) in the galaxys rest-frame, both refutes the possibility that GRBs are related to galactic nuclear activity and supports models of GRBs which involve the death and/or merger of massive stars. Further, the HST image suggests an intimate connection of GRB 990123 and a star-forming region.
We present post-jet-break textit{HST}, VLA and textit{Chandra} observations of the afterglow of the long $gamma$-ray bursts GRB 160625B (between 69 and 209 days) and GRB 160509A (between 35 and 80 days). We calculate the post-jet-break decline rates of the light curves, and find the afterglow of GRB 160625B inconsistent with a simple $t^{-3/4}$ steepening over the break, expected from the geometric effect of the jet edge entering our line of sight. However, the favored optical post-break decline ($f_{ u} propto t^{-1.96 pm 0.07}$) is also inconsistent with the $f_{ u} propto t^{-p}$ decline (where $p approx 2.3$ from the pre-break light curve), which is expected from exponential lateral expansion of the jet; perhaps suggesting lateral expansion that only affects a fraction of the jet. The post-break decline of GRB 160509A is consistent with both the $t^{-3/4}$ steepening and with $f_{ u} propto t^{-p}$. We also use {sc boxfit} to fit afterglow models to both light curves and find both to be energetically consistent with a millisecond magnetar central engine, although the magnetar parameters need to be extreme (i.e. $E sim 3 times 10^{52}$ erg). Finally, the late-time radio light curves of both afterglows are not reproduced well by {sc boxfit} and are inconsistent with predictions from the standard jet model; instead both are well represented by a single power law decline (roughly $f_{ u} propto t^{-1}$) with no breaks. This requires a highly chromatic jet break ($t_{j,mathrm{radio}} > 10 times t_{j,mathrm{optical}}$) and possibly a two-component jet for both bursts.
We present a broadband study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 091024A within the context of other ultra-long-duration GRBs. An unusually long burst detected by Konus-Wind, Swift, and Fermi, GRB 091024A has prompt emission episodes covering ~1300 s, accompanied by bright and highly structured optical emission captured by various rapid-response facilities, including the 2-m autonomous robotic Faulkes North and Liverpool Telescopes, KAIT, S-LOTIS, and SRO. We also observed the burst with 8- and 10-m class telescopes and determine the redshift to be z = 1.0924 pm 0.0004. We find no correlation between the optical and gamma-ray peaks and interpret the optical light curve as being of external origin, caused by the reverse and forward shock of a highly magnetized jet (R_B ~ 100-200). Low-level emission is detected throughout the near-background quiescent period between the first two emission episodes of the Konus-Wind data, suggesting continued central-engine activity; we discuss the implications of this ongoing emission and its impact on the afterglow evolution and predictions. We summarize the varied sample of historical GRBs with exceptionally long durations in gamma-rays (>~ 1000 s) and discuss the likelihood of these events being from a separate population; we suggest ultra-long GRBs represent the tail of the duration distribution of the long GRB population.
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