Статья

The Discovery of the Optical and Near‐IR Afterglows of the First<i>Swift</i>Gamma‐Ray Bursts

E. BergerHubble FellowD. B. FoxDivision of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, 105-24, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125S. R. KulkarniDivision of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, 105-24, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125W. KrzeminskiLas Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Observatories, Casilla 601, La Serena, ChileA. M. SoderbergDivision of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, 105-24, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125D. A. FrailNational Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM 87801D. N. BurrowsDepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802S. B. CenkoDivision of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, 105-24, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125E. J. MurphyDepartment of Astronomy, Yale University, P.O. Box 208101, New Haven, CT 06520-8101P. A. PriceInstitute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822A. Gal‐YamDivision of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, 105-24, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125D.‐S. MoonDivision of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, 105-24, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125N. GehrelsNASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771W. L. FreedmanObservatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101S. E. PerssonObservatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101S. BarthelmyNASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771J. E. HillDepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802J. A. NousekDepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802A. MorettiINAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate, Italy

2005en

ABI

Аннотация

We present optical and near-infrared searches for afterglow emission from the first four Swift bursts with accurate positions from the X-ray Telescope (XRT). Using telescopes at Las Campanas, Keck, and Palomar observatories we rapidly identified and followed up afterglows for three of the four bursts. The burst positions were also observed with the Very Large Array, but no radio afterglow emission was detected. The optical/NIR afterglows are fainter than about 75% of all afterglows detected to date, with GRB 050126 being the faintest, and were identified thanks to accurate and rapid positions from the XRT and rapid response with >1-m telescopes. This suggests that the fraction of dust-obscured bursts is small, <10% when combined with afterglows localized by the HETE-2 Soft X-ray Camera. The X-ray fluxes are typical of the known population, with the exception of GRB 050126 which has the faintest X-ray afterglow to date (normalized to t=10 hr), and was detected thanks to a response time of only 130 s after the burst. Finally, we find that all three optical/NIR afterglows are located <2 arcsec away from the nominal XRT positions, suggesting that the XRT is capable of delivering highly accurate positions, which will revolutionize afterglow studies.

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Идентификаторы

DOI: 10.1086/431579

Цитирования и источники

Цитирований: 2Использованных источников: 0

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