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We have conducted the most sensitive low frequency (below 100 MHz) search to date for prompt, low-frequency radio emission associated with short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), using the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Long Wavelength Array (OVRO-LWA). The OVRO-LWA's nearly full-hemisphere field-of-view (∼20,000 square degrees) allows us to search for low-frequency (sub-100 MHz) counterparts for a large sample of the subset of GRB events for which prompt radio emission has been predicted. Following the detection of short GRB 170112A by Swift, we used all-sky OVRO-LWA images spanning one hour prior to and two hours following the GRB event to search for a transient source coincident with the position of GRB 170112A. We detect no transient source, with our most constraining 1σ flux density limit of 650 mJy for frequencies spanning 27 MHz−84 MHz. We place constraints on a number of models predicting prompt, low-frequency radio emission accompanying short GRBs and their potential binary neutron star merger progenitors, and place an upper limit of Lradio/Lγ≲7×10−16 on the fraction of energy released in the prompt radio emission. These observations serve as a pilot effort for a program targeting a wider sample of both short and long GRBs with the OVRO-LWA, including bursts with confirmedmore »
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Abstract We present the discovery of the first millimeter afterglow of a short-duration
γ -ray burst (SGRB) and the first confirmed afterglow of an SGRB localized by the GUANO system on Swift. Our Atacama Large Millimeter/Sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) detection of SGRB 211106A establishes an origin in a faint host galaxy detected in Hubble Space Telescope imaging at 0.7 ≲z ≲ 1.4. From the lack of a detectable optical afterglow, coupled with the bright millimeter counterpart, we infer a high extinction,A V≳ 2.6 mag along the line of sight, making this one of the most highly dust-extincted SGRBs known to date. The millimeter-band light curve captures the passage of the synchrotron peak from the afterglow forward shock and reveals a jet break at days. For a presumed redshift ofz = 1, we infer an opening angle,θ jet= (15.°5 ± 1.°4), and beaming-corrected kinetic energy of , making this one of the widest and most energetic SGRB jets known to date. Combining all published millimeter-band upper limits in conjunction with the energetics for a large sample of SGRBs, we find that energetic outflows in high-density environments are more likely to have detectable millimeter counterparts. Concerted afterglow searches with ALMA shouldmore »