Hubble space telescope observations of the afterglow, supernova, and host galaxy associated with the extremely bright GRB 130427A
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH (United Kingdom)
- Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark)
- INAF, Trieste Astronomical Observatory, via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143 Trieste (Italy)
- Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, IC2 Liverpool Science Park 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF (United Kingdom)
- Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, MC 249-17, 1200 East California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
- Centre for Astrophysics and Cosmology, Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavik (Iceland)
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Mail Code 661, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
- Science and Technology Office, ZP12, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812 (United States)
- Department of Physics, University College Cork, Cork (Ireland)
We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the exceptionally bright and luminous Swift gamma-ray burst (GRB), GRB 130427A. At z = 0.34, this burst affords an excellent opportunity to study the supernova (SN) and host galaxy associated with an intrinsically extremely luminous burst (E {sub iso} > 10{sup 54} erg): more luminous than any previous GRB with a spectroscopically associated SN. We use the combination of the image quality, UV capability, and invariant point-spread function of HST to provide the best possible separation of the afterglow, host, and SN contributions to the observed light ∼17 rest-frame days after the burst, utilizing a host subtraction spectrum obtained one year later. Advanced Camera for Surveys grism observations show that the associated SN, SN 2013cq, has an overall spectral shape and luminosity similar to SN 1998bw (with a photospheric velocity, v {sub ph} ∼ 15, 000 km s{sup –1}). The positions of the bluer features are better matched by the higher velocity SN 2010bh (v {sub ph} ∼ 30, 000 km s{sup –1}), but this SN is significantly fainter and fails to reproduce the overall spectral shape, perhaps indicative of velocity structure in the ejecta. We find that the burst originated ∼4 kpc from the nucleus of a moderately star forming (1 M {sub ☉} yr{sup –1}), possibly interacting disk galaxy. The absolute magnitude, physical size, and morphology of this galaxy, as well as the location of the GRB within it, are also strikingly similar to those of GRB 980425/SN 1998bw. The similarity of the SNe and environment from both the most luminous and least luminous GRBs suggests that broadly similar progenitor stars can create GRBs across six orders of magnitude in isotropic energy.
- OSTI ID:
- 22365099
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 792, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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