CONSTRAINTS ON VERY HIGH ENERGY EMISSION FROM GRB 130427A

Journal Article · Fri Oct 10 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/795/1/L3· OSTI ID:1356437

Aliu, E.; Aune, T.; Barnacka, A.; Beilicke, M.; Benbow, W.; Berger, K.; Biteau, J.; Buckley, J. H.; Bugaev, V.; Byrum, K.; Cardenzana, J. V.; Cerruti, M.; Chen, X.; Ciupik, L.; Connaughton, V.; Cui, W.; Dickinson, H. J.; Eisch, J. D.; Errando, M.; Falcone, A. ; Federici, S.; Feng, Q.; Finley, J. P.; Fleischhack, H.; Fortin, P.; Fortson, L.; Furniss, A.; Galante, N.; Gillanders, G. H.; Griffin, S.; Griffiths, S. T.; Grube, J.; Gyuk, G.; Håkansson, N.; Hanna, D.; Holder, J.; Hughes, G.; Humensky, T. B.; Johnson, C. A.; Kaaret, P.; Kar, P.; Kertzman, M.; Khassen, Y.; Kieda, D.; Krawczynski, H.; Krennrich, F.; Lang, M. J.; Madhavan, A. S.; Maier, G.; McArthur, S.; McCann, A.; Meagher, K.; Millis, J.; Moriarty, P.; Mukherjee, R.; Nieto, D.; O'Faoláin de Bhróithe, A.; Ong, R. A.; Otte, A. N.; Park, N.; Pohl, M.; Popkow, A.; Prokoph, H.; Pueschel, E.; Quinn, J.; Ragan, K.; Rajotte, J.; Reyes, L. C.; Reynolds, P. T.; Richards, G. T.; Roache, E.; Sembroski, G. H.; Shahinyan, K.; Smith, A. W.; Staszak, D.; Telezhinsky, I.; Tucci, J. V.; Tyler, J.; Varlotta, A.; Vassiliev, V. V.; Vincent, S.; Wakely, S. P.; Weiner, O. M.; Weinstein, A.; Welsing, R.; Wilhelm, A.; Williams, D. A.; Zitzer, B.; McEnery, J. E.; Perkins, J. S.; Veres, P.; Zhu, S.

In this study, prompt emission from the very fluent and nearby (z = 0.34) gamma-ray burst GRB 130427A was detected by several orbiting telescopes and by ground-based, wide-field-of-view optical transient monitors. Apart from the intensity and proximity of this GRB, it is exceptional due to the extremely long-lived high-energy (100 MeV to 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission, which was detected by the Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope for ~70 ks after the initial burst. The persistent, hard-spectrum, high-energy emission suggests that the highest-energy gamma rays may have been produced via synchrotron self-Compton processes though there is also evidence that the high-energy emission may instead be an extension of the synchrotron spectrum. VERITAS, a ground-based imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array, began follow-up observations of GRB 130427A ~71 ks (~20 hr) after the onset of the burst. The GRB was not detected with VERITAS; however, the high elevation of the observations, coupled with the low redshift of the GRB, make VERITAS a very sensitive probe of the emission from GRB 130427A for E > 100 GeV. In conclusion, the non-detection and consequent upper limit derived place constraints on the synchrotron self-Compton model of high-energy gamma-ray emission from this burst.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Contributing Organization: Fermi-LAT Collaboration; VERITAS Collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1356437
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 22364597
• Journal Information: The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online), Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online) Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 795; ISSN 2041-8213
• Publisher: Institute of Physics (IOP)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
gamma-ray burst
individual (GRB 130427A)