An official website of the United States government
Abstract We report observations of the optical counterpart of the long gamma-ray burst (GRB) GRB 230812B and its associated supernova (SN) SN 2023pel. The proximity (z= 0.36) and high energy (Eγ,iso∼ 1053erg) make it an important event to study as a probe of the connection between massive star core collapse and relativistic jet formation. With a phenomenological power-law model for the optical afterglow, we find a late-time flattening consistent with the presence of an associated SN. SN 2023pel has an absolute peakr-band magnitude ofMr= −19.46 ± 0.18 mag (about as bright as SN 1998bw) and evolves on quicker timescales. Using a radioactive heating model, we derive a nickel mass powering the SN ofMNi= 0.38 ± 0.01M⊙and a peak bolometric luminosity ofLbol∼ 1.3 × 1043erg s−1. We confirm SN 2023pel’s classification as a broad-line Type Ic SN with a spectrum taken 15.5 days after its peak in therband and derive a photospheric expansion velocity ofvph= 11,300 ± 1600 km s−1at that phase. Extrapolating this velocity to the time of maximum light, we derive the ejecta massMej= 1.0 ± 0.6M⊙and kinetic energy . We find that GRB 230812B/SN 2023pel has SN properties that are mostly consistent with the overall GRB-SN population. The lack of correlations found in the GRB-SN population between SN brightness andEγ,isofor their associated GRBs across a broad range of 7 orders of magnitude provides further evidence that the central engine powering the relativistic ejecta is not coupled to the SN powering mechanism in GRB-SN systems.
more »
« less
Uniform Modeling of Observed Kilonovae: Implications for Diversity and the Progenitors of Merger-driven Long Gamma-Ray Bursts
Abstract We present uniform modeling of eight kilonovae, five following short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs; including GRB 170817A) and three following long GRBs. We model their broadband afterglows to determine the relative contributions of afterglow and kilonova emission. We fit the kilonovae using a three-component model inMOSFiT, and report population median ejecta masses for the total, blue (κB = 0.5 cm2g−1), purple (κP = 3 cm2g−1), and red (κR = 10 cm2g−1) components. The kilonova of GW170817 is near the sample median in most derived properties. We investigate trends between the ejecta masses and the isotropic-equivalent and beaming-correctedγ-ray energies (Eγ,iso,Eγ), as well as rest-frame durations (T90,rest). We find long GRB kilonovae have higher median red ejecta masses (Mej,R ≳ 0.05M⊙) compared to on-axis short GRB kilonovae (Mej,R ≲ 0.02M⊙). We also observe a weak scaling between the total and red ejecta masses withEγ,isoandEγ, though a larger sample is needed to establish a significant correlation. These findings imply a connection between merger-driven long GRBs and larger tidal dynamical ejecta masses, which may indicate that their progenitors are asymmetric compact object binaries. We produce representative kilonova light curves, and find that the planned depths and cadences of the Rubin and Roman Observatory surveys will be sufficient for order-of-magnitude constraints onMej,B(and, for Roman,Mej,PandMej,R) of future kilonovae atz ≲ 0.1.
more »
« less
- PAR ID:
- 10568425
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Volume:
- 979
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0004-637X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 190
- Size(s):
- Article No. 190
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have historically been divided into two classes. Short-duration GRBs are associated with binary neutron star mergers (NSMs), while long-duration bursts are connected to a subset of core-collapse supernovae (SNe). GRB 211211A recently made headlines as the first long-duration burst purportedly generated by an NSM. The evidence for an NSM origin was excess optical and near-infrared emission consistent with the kilonova observed after the gravitational-wave-detected NSM GW170817. Kilonovae derive their unique electromagnetic signatures from the properties of the heavy elements synthesized by rapid neutron capture (ther-process) following the merger. Recent simulations suggest that the “collapsar” SNe that trigger long GRBs may also producer-process elements. While observations of GRB 211211A and its afterglow rule out an SN typical of those that follow long GRBs, an unusual collapsar could explain both the duration of GRB 211211A and ther-process-powered excess in its afterglow. We use semianalytic radiation transport modeling to evaluate low-mass collapsars as the progenitors of GRB 211211A–like events. We compare a suite of collapsar models to the afterglow-subtracted emission that followed GRB 211211A, and find the best agreement for models with high kinetic energies and an unexpected pattern of56Ni enrichment. We discuss how core-collapse explosions could produce such ejecta, and how distinct our predictions are from those generated by more straightforward kilonova models. We also show that radio observations can distinguish between kilonovae and the more massive collapsar ejecta we consider here.more » « less
-
Abstract We study the production of very light elements (Z< 20) in the dynamical and spiral-wave wind ejecta of binary neutron star mergers by combining detailed nucleosynthesis calculations with the outcome of numerical relativity merger simulations. All our models are targeted to GW170817 and include neutrino radiation. We explore different finite-temperature, composition-dependent nuclear equations of state, and binary mass ratios, and find that hydrogen and helium are the most abundant light elements. For both elements, the decay of free neutrons is the driving nuclear reaction. In particular, ∼0.5–2 × 10−6M⊙of hydrogen are produced in the fast expanding tail of the dynamical ejecta, while ∼1.5–11 × 10−6M⊙of helium are synthesized in the bulk of the dynamical ejecta, usually in association with heavyr-process elements. By computing synthetic spectra, we find that the possibility of detecting hydrogen and helium features in kilonova spectra is very unlikely for fiducial masses and luminosities, even when including nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium effects. The latter could be crucial to observe helium lines a few days after merger for faint kilonovae or for luminous kilonovae ejecting large masses of helium. Finally, we compute the amount of strontium synthesized in the dynamical and spiral-wave wind ejecta, and find that it is consistent with (or even larger than, in the case of a long-lived remnant) the one required to explain early spectral features in the kilonova of GW170817.more » « less
-
Abstract We present a population of 11 of the faintest (>25.5 AB mag) short gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies. We model their sparse available observations using the stellar population inference codeProspector-βand develop a novel implementation to incorporate the galaxy mass–radius relation. Assuming these hosts are randomly drawn from the galaxy population and conditioning this draw on their observed flux and size in a few photometric bands, we determine that these hosts have dwarf galaxy stellar masses of . This is striking as only 14% of short GRB hosts with previous inferred stellar masses hadM*≲ 109M⊙. We further show these short GRBs have smaller physical and host-normalized offsets than the rest of the population, suggesting that the majority of their neutron star (NS) merger progenitors were retained within their hosts. The presumably shallow potentials of these hosts translate to small escape velocities of ∼5.5–80 km s−1, indicative of either low postsupernova systemic velocities or short inspiral times. While short GRBs with identified dwarf host galaxies now comprise ≈14% of the total Swift-detected population, a number are likely missing in the current population, as larger systemic velocities (observed from the Galactic NS population) would result in highly offset short GRBs and less secure host associations. However, the revelation of a population of short GRBs retained in low-mass host galaxies offers a natural explanation for the observedr-process enrichment via NS mergers in Local Group dwarf galaxies, and has implications for gravitational-wave follow-up strategies.more » « less
-
Abstract Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) exhibit a diversity of spectra. Several spectral models (e.g., Band, cutoff power law (CPL), and blackbody) and their hybrid versions (e.g., Band+blackbody) have been widely used to fit the observed GRB spectra. Here, we attempt to collect all the bursts detected by Fermi/GBM with known redshifts from 2008 July to 2022 May, having been motivated to (i) provide a parameter catalog independent of the official Fermi/GBM team and (ii) achieve a “clean” model-based GRB spectral energy correlation analysis. A nearly complete GRB sample is created, containing 153 such bursts (136 long GRBs and 17 short GRBs). Using the sample and by performing detailed spectral analysis and model comparisons, we investigate two GRB spectral energy correlations: the correlation of the cosmological rest-frame peak energy ( E p, z ) of the ν F ν prompt emission spectrum with (i) the isotropic-bolometric-equivalent emission energy E γ ,iso (the Amati relation) and (ii) the isotropic-bolometric-equivalent peak luminosity L p,iso (the Yonetoku relation). From a linear regression analysis, a tight correlation between E p, z and E γ ,iso (and L γ ,iso ) is found for both Band-like and CPL-like bursts (except for CPL-like long burst E p, z – E γ ,iso correlation). More interestingly, CPL-like bursts do not fall on the Band-like burst Amati and Yonetoku correlations, suggesting distinct radiation processes, and pointing to the fact that these spectral energy correlations are tightly reliant on the model-wise properties.more » « less
