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Register a new userThe radio to X-ray spectrum of GRB 970508 on May 21.0 UT
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T.J. Galama
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We have reconstructed the spectrum of the afterglow of GRB 970508, on May 21.0 UT (12.1 days after the GRB), on the basis of observations spanning the X-ray to radio range. The low-frequency power law index of the spectrum, $alpha=0.44pm0.07$ ($F_ upropto u^alpha$), is in agreement with the expected value $alpha=1/3$ for optically thin synchrotron radiation. The 1.4 GHz emission is self-absorbed. We infer constraints on the break frequecies $ u_{c}$ and $ u_{m}$ on May 21.0 UT from a spectral transition from $F_{ u} sim u^{-0.6}$ to $F_{ u} sim u^{-1.1}$ in the optical passband around 1.4 days. A model of an adiabatically expanding blast wave, emitting synchrotron radiation, in which a significant fraction of the electrons cool rapidly provides a successful and consistent description of the afterglow observations over nine decades in frequency, ranging in time from trigger until several months later.
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We calculate radio-to-X-ray light curves for afterglows caused by non-thermal emission from a highly relativistic blast wave, which is inferred from the gamma-ray flux detected in GRB 980425 and from the very bright radio emission detected in SN 1998bw. We find that the observed gamma-ray and radio light curves are roughly reproduced by the synchrotron emission from a relativistic fireball. The optical flux predicted for the non-thermal emission is well below that of the thermal emission observed for SN 1998bw so that it will not be seen at least for a few years. The model predicts the X-ray flux just above the detection limit of BeppoSAX for the epoch when it was pointed to the field of GRB980425. Therefore, the nondetection of X-ray and optical afterglows is consistent with the model. The models presented here are consistent with the physical association between SN 1998bw and GRB980425, and lend further support to the idea that this object might correspond to an event similar to the ``hypernova or ``collapsar -- events in which the collapse of a massive star forms a rotating black hole surrounded by a disk of the remnant stellar mantle.
We report on the results of optical follow-up observations of the counterpart of GRB 970508, starting 7 hours after the event. Multi-color U, B, V, R$_{c}$ and I$_{c}$ band observations were obtained during the first three consecutive nights. The counterpart was monitored regularly in R$_{c}$ until $sim$ 4 months after the burst. The light curve after the maximum follows a decline that can be fitted with a power law with exponent $alpha$ = --1.141 $pm$ 0.014. Deviations from a smooth power law decay are moderate (r.m.s. = 0.15 magnitude). We find no flattening of the light curve at late times. The optical afterglow fluence is a significant fraction, $sim$ 5%, of the GRB fluence. The optical energy distribution can be well represented by a power law, the slope of which changed at the time of the maximum (the spectrum became redder).
We report on Westerbork 1.4 GHz radio observations of the radio counterpart to $gamma$-ray burst GRB~970508, between 0.80 and 138 days after this event. The 1.4 GHz light curve shows a transition from optically thick to thin emission between 39 and 54 days after the event. We derive the slope $p$ of the spectrum of injected electrons ($dN/dgamma_{e}proptogamma_{e}^{-p}$) in two independent ways which yield values very close to $p=2.2$. This is in agreement with a relativistic dynamically near-adiabatic blast wave model whose emission is dominated by synchrotron radiation and in which a significant fraction of the electrons cool fast.
The absorption feature detected in the prompt X-ray emission of GRB 990705 bears important consequences. We investigate different production mechanisms and we conclude that the absorbing material cannot be very close to the burster and is likely to be moderately clumped. These properties challenge any model in which the burst explodes in coincidence with the core-collapse of a massive rotating star. We show that the straightforward interpretation of the absorption feature as a photoionization K edge of neutral iron faces a severe problem in that it requires a huge amount of iron in the close vicinity of the burster. We then discuss an alternative scenario, in which iron ions are kept in a high ionization state by the burst flux, and the absorption feature is produced by resonant scattering from hydrogen-like iron, broadened by a range outflow velocities. In this case the physical conditions and geometry of the absorbing material are fully consistent with the presence of a young supernova remnant surrounding the burst site at a radius R ~ 10^{16} cm. We finally discuss how this remnant might affect the generation of afterglows with a standard power-law flux decay.
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