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Register a new userHost Galaxies of Gamma-Ray Bursts and their Cosmological Evolution
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Added by
St\\'ephanie Courty
Publication date
2004
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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We use numerical simulations of large scale structure formation to explore the cosmological properties of Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) host galaxies. Among the different sub-populations found in the simulations, we identify the host galaxies as the most efficient star-forming objects, i.e. galaxies with high specific star formation rates. We find that the host candidates are low-mass, young galaxies with low to moderate star formation rate. These properties are consistent with those observed in GRB hosts, most of which are sub-luminous, blue galaxies. Assuming that host candidates are galaxies with high star formation rates would have given conclusions inconsistent with the observations. The specific star formation rate, given a galaxy mass, is shown to increase as the redshift increases. The low mass of the putative hosts makes them difficult to detect with present day telescopes and the probability density function of the specific star formation rate is predicted to change depending on whether or not these galaxies are observed.
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Motivated by the recent observational and theoretical evidence that long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are likely associated with low metallicity, rapidly rotating massive stars, we examine the cosmological star formation rate (SFR) below a critical metallicity Z_crit Z_sun/10 - Z_sun/5, to estimate the event rate of high-redshift long GRB progenitors. To this purpose, we exploit a galaxy formation scenario already successfully tested on a wealth of observational data on (proto)spheroids, Lyman break galaxies, Lyman alpha emitters, submm galaxies, quasars, and local early-type galaxies. We find that the predicted rate of long GRBs amounts to about 300 events/yr/sr, of which about 30 per cent occur at z>~6. Correspondingly, the GRB number counts well agree with the bright SWIFT data, without the need for an intrinsic luminosity evolution. Moreover, the above framework enables us to predict properties of the GRB host galaxies. Most GRBs are associated with low mass galaxy halos M_H<~10^11 M_sun, and effectively trace the formation of small galaxies in such halos. The hosts are young, with age smaller than 5*10^7 yr, gas rich, but poorly extincted (A_V<~0.1) because of their chemical immaturity; this also implies high specific SFR and quite extreme alpha-enhancement. Only the minority of hosts residing in large halos with M_H>~10^12 M_sun have larger extinction (A_V~0.7-1), SFRs exceeding 100 M_sun/yr and can be detected at submm wavelengths. Most of the hosts have UV magnitudes in the range -20 <~M_1350<~ -16, and Lyman alpha luminosity in the range 2*10^40 <~L_Lya<~2*10^42 erg/s. GRB hosts are thus tracing the faint end of the luminosity function of Lyman break galaxies and Lyman alpha emitters.
The intrinsic X-ray emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) is often found to be absorbed over and above the column density through our own galaxy. The extra component is usually assumed to be due to absorbing gas lying within the host galaxy of the GRB itself. There is an apparent correlation between the equivalent column density of hydrogen, N(H,intrinsic) (assuming it to be at the GRB redshift), and redshift, z, with the few z>6 GRBs showing the greatest intrinsic column densities. We investigate the N(H,intrinsic) - z relation using a large sample of Swift GRBs, as well as active galactic nuclei (AGN) and quasar samples, paying particular attention to the spectral energy distributions of the two highest redshift GRBs. Various possible sample biases and systematics that might produce such a correlation are considered, and we conclude that the correlation is very likely to be real. This may indicate either an evolutionary effect in the host galaxy properties, or a contribution from gas along the line-of-sight, in the diffuse intergalactic medium (IGM) or intervening absorbing clouds. Employing a more realistic model for IGM absorption than in previous works, we find that this may explain much of the observed opacity at z>~3 providing it is not too hot, likely between 10^5 K and 10^6.5 K, and moderately metal enriched, Z~0.2 Z_sun. This material could therefore constitute the Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium. However, a comparable level of absorption is also expected from the cumulative effect of intervening cold gas clouds, and given current uncertainties it is not possible to say which, if either, dominates. At lower redshifts, we conclude that gas in the host galaxies must be the dominant contributor to the observed X-ray absorption.
We present a study of 21 dark gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies, predominantly using X-ray afterglows obtained with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) to precisely locate the burst in deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of the burst region. The host galaxies are well-detected in F160W in all but one case and in F606W imaging in approx 60 per cent of cases. We measure magnitudes and perform a morphological analysis of each galaxy. The asymmetry, concentration and ellipticity of the dark burst hosts are compared against the host galaxies of optically bright GRBs. In agreement with other studies, we find that dark GRB hosts are redder and more luminous than the bulk of the GRB host population. The distribution of projected spatial offsets for dark GRBs from their host galaxy centroids is comparable to that of optically-bright bursts. The dark GRB hosts are physically larger, more massive and redder, but are morphologically similar to the hosts of bright GRBs in terms of concentration and asymmetry. Our analysis constrains the fraction of high redshift (z greater than 5) GRBs in the sample to approx 14 per cent, implying an upper limit for the whole long-GRB population of less than 4.4 per cent. If dust is the primary cause of afterglow darkening amongst dark GRBs, the measured extinction may require a clumpy dust component in order to explain the observed offset and ellipticity distributions.
Using multiwavelength observations of radio afterglows, we confirm the hypothesis that the flux density of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at a fixed observing frequency is invariable when the distance of the GRBs increases, which means the detection rate will be approximately independent of redshift. We study this behavior theoretically and find that it can be well explained by the standard forward shock model involving a thin shell expanding in either a homogeneous interstellar medium (ISM) or a wind environment. We also found that short GRBs and supernova-associated GRBs, which are at relatively smaller distances, marginally match the flux-redshift relationship and they could be outliers. We rule out the assumption that the medium density evolves with redshift as $npropto(1+z)^4$ from the current measurements of $n$ and $z$ for short and long GRBs. In addition, the possible dependence of host flux on the redshift is also investigated. We find that a similar redshift independence of the flux exists for host galaxies as well, which implies that the detection rate of radio hosts might also be independent of the redshift. It is also hinted that most radio hosts have the spectral indices ranging from $beta_hsimeq-1$ to 2.5 in statistics. Finally, we predict the detection rates of radio afterglows by the next-generation radio telescopes such as the Five-hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA).
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) are the signatures of extraordinarily high-energy events occurring in our universe. Since their discovery, we have determined that these events are produced during the core-collapse deaths of rare young massive stars. The host galaxies of LGRBs are an excellent means of probing the environments and populations that produce their unusual progenitors. In addition, these same young stellar progenitors makes LGRBs and their host galaxies valuable potentially powerful tracers of star formation and metallicity at high redshifts. However, properly utilizing LGRBs as probes of the early universe requires a thorough understanding of their formation and the host environments that they sample. This review looks back at some of the recent work on LGRB host galaxies that has advanced our understanding of these events and their cosmological applications, and considers the many new questions that we are poised to pursue in the coming years.
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