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Title: NuSTAR observations of GRB 130427A establish a single component synchrotron afterglow origin for the late optical to multi-GEV emission

Abstract

Here, GRB 130427A occurred in a relatively nearby galaxy; its prompt emission had the largest GRB fluence ever recorded. The afterglow of GRB 130427A was bright enough for the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope ARray (NuSTAR) to observe it in the 3-79 keV energy range long after its prompt emission (~1.5 and 5 days). This range, where afterglow observations were previously not possible, bridges an important spectral gap. Combined with Swift, Fermi, and ground-based optical data, NuSTAR observations unambiguously establish a single afterglow spectral component from optical to multi-GeV energies a day after the event, which is almost certainly synchrotron radiation. Such an origin of the late-time Fermi/Large Area Telescope >10 GeV photons requires revisions in our understanding of collisionless relativistic shock physics.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [12];  [13];  [4];  [14];  [3];  [15];  [4];  [14];  [3]
  1. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, AL (United States)
  2. The Open Univ. of Israel, Ra'anana (Israel)
  3. NASA Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  4. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
  5. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States). SLAC National Accelerator Lab.
  6. Univ. College London, Surrey (United Kingdom)
  7. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  8. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  9. Technical Univ. of Denmark, Lyngby (Denmark)
  10. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  11. Naval Research Lab., Washington, D.C. (United States)
  12. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  13. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  14. INAF - Ossevatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate (Italy)
  15. Liverpool John Moores Univ., Liverpool (United Kingdom)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1356552
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal. Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 779; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-8205
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; acceleration of particles; gamma-ray burst: individual (GRB 130427A); magnetic fields; radiation mechanisms: non-thermal; shock waves

Citation Formats

Kouveliotou, Chryssa, Granot, J., Racusin, J. L., Bellm, E., Vianello, G., Oates, S., Fryer, C. L., Boggs, S. E., Christensen, F. E., Craig, W. W., Dermer, C. D., Gehrels, N., Hailey, C. J., Harrison, F. A., Melandri, A., McEnery, J. E., Mundell, C. G., Stern, D. K., Tagliaferri, G., and Zhang, W. W.. NuSTAR observations of GRB 130427A establish a single component synchrotron afterglow origin for the late optical to multi-GEV emission. United States: N. p., 2013. Web. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/779/1/L1.
Kouveliotou, Chryssa, Granot, J., Racusin, J. L., Bellm, E., Vianello, G., Oates, S., Fryer, C. L., Boggs, S. E., Christensen, F. E., Craig, W. W., Dermer, C. D., Gehrels, N., Hailey, C. J., Harrison, F. A., Melandri, A., McEnery, J. E., Mundell, C. G., Stern, D. K., Tagliaferri, G., & Zhang, W. W.. NuSTAR observations of GRB 130427A establish a single component synchrotron afterglow origin for the late optical to multi-GEV emission. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/779/1/L1
Kouveliotou, Chryssa, Granot, J., Racusin, J. L., Bellm, E., Vianello, G., Oates, S., Fryer, C. L., Boggs, S. E., Christensen, F. E., Craig, W. W., Dermer, C. D., Gehrels, N., Hailey, C. J., Harrison, F. A., Melandri, A., McEnery, J. E., Mundell, C. G., Stern, D. K., Tagliaferri, G., and Zhang, W. W.. Thu . "NuSTAR observations of GRB 130427A establish a single component synchrotron afterglow origin for the late optical to multi-GEV emission". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/779/1/L1. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1356552.
@article{osti_1356552,
title = {NuSTAR observations of GRB 130427A establish a single component synchrotron afterglow origin for the late optical to multi-GEV emission},
author = {Kouveliotou, Chryssa and Granot, J. and Racusin, J. L. and Bellm, E. and Vianello, G. and Oates, S. and Fryer, C. L. and Boggs, S. E. and Christensen, F. E. and Craig, W. W. and Dermer, C. D. and Gehrels, N. and Hailey, C. J. and Harrison, F. A. and Melandri, A. and McEnery, J. E. and Mundell, C. G. and Stern, D. K. and Tagliaferri, G. and Zhang, W. W.},
abstractNote = {Here, GRB 130427A occurred in a relatively nearby galaxy; its prompt emission had the largest GRB fluence ever recorded. The afterglow of GRB 130427A was bright enough for the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope ARray (NuSTAR) to observe it in the 3-79 keV energy range long after its prompt emission (~1.5 and 5 days). This range, where afterglow observations were previously not possible, bridges an important spectral gap. Combined with Swift, Fermi, and ground-based optical data, NuSTAR observations unambiguously establish a single afterglow spectral component from optical to multi-GeV energies a day after the event, which is almost certainly synchrotron radiation. Such an origin of the late-time Fermi/Large Area Telescope >10 GeV photons requires revisions in our understanding of collisionless relativistic shock physics.},
doi = {10.1088/2041-8205/779/1/L1},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal. Letters},
number = 1,
volume = 779,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2013},
month = {Thu Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2013}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

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Fermi-LAT Observations of the Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 130427A
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