LATE-TIME OBSERVATIONS OF GRB 080319B: JET BREAK, HOST GALAXY, AND ACCOMPANYING SUPERNOVA

Journal Article · Fri Dec 10 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/725/1/625· OSTI ID:21474415

Tanvir, N R; O'Brien, P T; Wiersema, K; Starling, R L. C. ^[1]; Rol, E ^[2]; Levan, A J; Svensson, K ^[3]; Fruchter, A S ^[4]; Granot, J ^[5]; Jakobsson, P ^[6]; Fynbo, J; Hjorth, J ^[7]; Curran, P A ^[8]; Van der Horst, A J; Kouveliotou, C ^[9]; Racusin, J L ^[10]; Burrows, D N ^[11]; Genet, F ^[12]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH (United Kingdom)
2. Astronomical Institute 'Anton Pannekoek', P.O. Box 94248, NL-1090 SJ Amsterdam (Netherlands)
3. Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)
4. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
5. Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB (United Kingdom)
6. Centre for Astrophysics and Cosmology, Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhagi 5, IS-107 Reykjavik (Iceland)
7. Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen (Denmark)
8. AIM, CEA/DSM-CNRS, Irfu/SAP, Centre de Saclay, Bat. 709, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
9. NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, NSSTC, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805 (United States)
10. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Code 661, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
11. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
12. Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University, 91904 Jerusalem (Israel)

The Swift-discovered GRB 080319B was by far the most distant source ever observed at naked-eye brightness, reaching a peak apparent magnitude of 5.3 at a redshift of z = 0.937. We present our late-time optical (Hubble Space Telescope, Gemini, and Very Large Telescope) and X-ray (Chandra) observations, which confirm that an achromatic break occurred in the power-law afterglow light curve at {approx}11 days post-burst. This most likely indicates that the gamma-ray burst (GRB) outflow was collimated, which for a uniform jet would imply a total energy in the jet E{sub jet} {approx}> 10{sup 52} erg. Our observations also show a late-time excess of red light, which is well explained if the GRB was accompanied by a supernova (SN), similar to those seen in some other long-duration GRBs. The latest observations are dominated by light from the host and show that the GRB took place in a faint dwarf galaxy (r(AB) {approx} 27.0, rest frame M{sub B} {approx} -17.2). This galaxy is small even by the standards of other GRB hosts, which is suggestive of a low-metallicity environment. Intriguingly, the properties of this extreme event-a small host and bright SN-are entirely typical of the very low luminosity bursts such as GRB 980425 and GRB 060218.

• OSTI ID: 21474415
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 725, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/725/1/625; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
AFTERGLOW
BRIGHTNESS
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
GALAXIES
LUMINOSITY
RED SHIFT
SUPERNOVAE
TELESCOPES
X RADIATION
BINARY STARS
COSMIC RADIATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PRIMARY COSMIC RADIATION
RADIATIONS
STARS
VARIABLE STARS