GRB 050509b: the elusive optical/nIR/mm afterglow  of a
short-duration GRB

Castro-Tirado, A. J.; Postigo, A. de Ugarte; Gorosabel, J.; Fathkullin, T.; Соколов, В. В.; Bremer, M.; Márquez, I.; Marin, A.; Guziy, S.; Jelínek, M.; Kubánek, P.; Hudec, R.; Vítek, Stanislav; Sanguino, Tomás de Jesús Mateo; Eigenbrod, A.; Pérez-Ramírez, M. D.; Sota, A.; Masegosa, J.; Prada, Francisco; Moles, M.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200500147

Cited by 49 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…However, this burst is known to be peculiar, being its optical emission dominated by a supernova component and not the afterglow (Campana et al 2006;Soderberg et al 2006; see also Thöne et al 2011). GRB 050509B an extremely faint short burst, most probably hosted by a giant elliptical galaxy at z = 0.22 (Hjorth et al 2005;Gehrels et al 2005;Castro-Tirado et al 2005) is the following dimmest limit. The least luminous burst with detection in the mm/submm range is GRB 041219A, which curiously was one of the longest and brightest GRBs detected, for which a redshift of z = 0.31 has been recently suggested (Götz et al 2011).…”

Section: Redshift Distribution and Luminositiesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Pre-ALMA observations of GRBs in the mm/submm range

Postigo

Lundgren

Martín

et al. 2012

A&A

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Context. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) generate an afterglow emission that can be detected from radio to X-rays during days, or even weeks after the initial explosion. The peak of this emission crosses the millimeter and submillimeter range during the first hours to days, making their study in this range crucial for constraining the models. Observations have been limited until now due to the low sensitivity of the observatories in this range. This situation will be greatly improved with the start of scientific operations of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Aims. In this work we do a statistical analysis of the complete sample of mm/submm observations of GRB afterglows obtained before the beginning of scientific operations at ALMA. Methods. We present observations of 11 GRB afterglows obtained from the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) and the SubMillimeter Array (SMA), as well as the first detection of a GRB with ALMA, still in the commissioning phase, and put them into context with a catalogue of all the observations that have been published until now in the spectral range that is covered by ALMA.Results. The catalogue of mm/submm observations collected here is the largest to date and is composed of 102 GRBs, of which 88 have afterglow observations, whereas the rest are host galaxy searches. With our programmes, we contributed with data of 11 GRBs and the discovery of 2 submm counterparts. In total, the full sample, including data from the literature, has 22 afterglow detections with redshifts ranging from 0.168 to 8.2. GRBs have been detected in mm/submm wavelengths with peak luminosities spanning 2.5 orders of magnitude, the most luminous reaching 10 33 erg s −1 Hz −1 . We observe a correlation between the X-ray brightness at 0.5 days and the mm/submm peak brightness. Finally we give a rough estimate of the distribution of peak flux densities of GRB afterglows, based on the current mm/submm sample. Conclusions. Observations in the mm/submm bands have been shown to be crucial for our understanding of the physics of GRBs, but have until now been limited by the sensitivity of the observatories. With the start of the operations at ALMA, the sensitivity has improved by more than an order of magnitude, opening a new era in the study of GRB afterglows and their host galaxies. Our estimates predict that, once completed, ALMA will detect up to ∼98% of the afterglows if observed during the passage of the peak synchrotron emission.

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Section: Redshift Distribution and Luminositiesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Pre-ALMA observations of GRBs in the mm/submm range

Postigo

Lundgren

Martín

et al. 2012

A&A

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“…On the other hand, all searches for supernova components in short bursts have failed to detect them, in some cases to very deep limits (Castro-Tirado et al 2005;Hjorth et al 2005a,b;Ferrero et al 2007;Kann et al 2008;Kocevski et al 2010). This has been used to argue that short GRBs are produced by the coalescence of a compact binary system (Hjorth et al 2005a).…”

Section: Supernova Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searching for differences inSwift’s intermediate GRBs

Postigo

Horváth²,

Vereš

et al. 2010

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Context. Gamma-ray bursts are usually classified in terms their high-energy emission into either short-duration or long-duration bursts, which presumably reflect two different types of progenitors. However, it has been shown on statistical grounds that a third, intermediate population is needed in this classification scheme, although an extensive study of the properties of this class has so far not been performed. The large amount of follow-up studies generated during the Swift era allows us to have a sufficient sample to attempt a study of this third population through the properties of their prompt emission and their afterglows. Aims. To understand the differences of the intermediate population, we study a sample of GRBs observed by Swift during its first four years of operation. The sample contains only bursts with measured redshifts since these data help us to derive intrinsic properties. Methods. We search for differences in the properties of the three groups of bursts, which we quantify using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test whenever possible. Results. Intermediate bursts are found to be less energetic and have dimmer afterglows than long GRBs, especially when considering the X-ray light curves, which are on average one order of magnitude fainter than long bursts. There is a less significant trend in the redshift distribution that places intermediate bursts closer than long bursts. Except for this, intermediate bursts show similar properties to long bursts. In particular, they follow the E peak versus E iso correlation and have, on average, positive spectral lags with a distribution similar to that of long bursts. As for long GRBs, they normally have an associated supernova, although some intermediate bursts have been found to contain no supernova component. Conclusions. This study shows that intermediate bursts differ from short bursts, but exhibit no significant differences from long bursts apart from their lower brightness. We suggest that the physical difference between intermediate and long bursts could be explained by being produced by similar progenitors, of the former being the ejecta thin shells and the latter thick shells.

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“…Although an extensive observational campaign has been performed using many different instruments, no convincing optical-IR candidate afterglow nor any trace of any supernova has been found associated with GRB 050509b (see Cenko et al 2005;Bersier et al 2005;Hjorth et al 2005;Castro-Tirado et al 2005;Bloom et al 2005aBloom et al ,b, 2006). An upper limit in the R-band 18.5 days after the event onset imply that the peak flux of any underlying supernova should have been ∼3 mag fainter than the one observed for the type Ib/c supernova SN 1998bw associated with GRB 980425, and 2.3 mag fainter than a typical type Ia supernova (Castro-Tirado et al 2005; see also Hjorth et al 2005). An upper limit to the brightening caused by a supernova or supernova-like emission has also been established at 8.17 days after the GRB: R c ∼ 25.0 mag (Bloom et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the nature of GRB 050509b: a disguised short GRB

Barros¹,

Amati²,

Bernardini³

et al. 2011

A&A

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Context. GRB 050509b, detected by the Swift satellite, is the first case where an X-ray afterglow has been observed associated with a short gamma-ray burst (GRB). Within the fireshell model, the canonical GRB light curve presents two different components: the proper-GRB (P-GRB) and the extended afterglow. Their relative intensity is a function of the fireshell baryon loading parameter B and of the CircumBurst Medium (CBM) density (n CBM ). In particular, the traditionally called short GRBs can be either "genuine" short GRBs (with B 10 −5 , where the P-GRB is energetically predominant) or "disguised" short GRBs (with B 3.0 × 10 −4 and n CBM 1, where the extended afterglow is energetically predominant). Aims. We verify whether GRB 050509b can be classified as a "genuine" short or a "disguised" short GRB, in the fireshell model. Methods. We investigate two alternative scenarios. In the first, we start from the assumption that this GRB is a "genuine" short burst.In the second attempt, we assume that this GRB is a "disguised" burst. Results. If GRB 050509b were a genuine short GRB, there should initially be very hard emission, which is ruled out by the observations. The analysis that assumes that this is a disguised short GRB is compatible with the observations. The theoretical model predicts a value of the extended afterglow energy peak that is consistent with the Amati relation. Conclusions. GRB 050509b cannot be classified as a "genuine" short GRB. The observational data are consistent with a "disguised" short GRB classification, i.e., a long burst with a weak extended afterglow "deflated" by the low density of the CBM. We expect that all short GRBs with measured redshifts are disguised short GRBs because of a selection effect: if there is enough energy in the afterglow to measure the redshift, then the proper GRB must be less energetic than the afterglow. The Amati relation is found to be fulfilled only by the extended afterglow excluding the P-GRB.

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GRB 050509b: the elusive optical/nIR/mm afterglow of a short-duration GRB

Cited by 49 publications

References 27 publications

Pre-ALMA observations of GRBs in the mm/submm range

Pre-ALMA observations of GRBs in the mm/submm range

Searching for differences inSwift’s intermediate GRBs

On the nature of GRB 050509b: a disguised short GRB

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