DISCOVERY OF SMOOTHLY EVOLVING BLACKBODIES IN THE EARLY AFTERGLOW OF GRB 090618: EVIDENCE FOR A SPINE–SHEATH JET?
GRB 090618 is a bright gamma-ray burst (GRB) with multiple pulses. It shows evidence of thermal emission in the initial pulses as well as in the early afterglow phase. Because high-resolution spectral data from the Swift/X-ray Telescope (XRT) are available for the early afterglow, we investigate the shape and evolution of the thermal component in this phase using data from the Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), the Swift/XRT, and the Fermi/Gamma-ray Burst Monitor detectors. An independent fit to the BAT and XRT data reveals two correlated blackbodies with monotonically decreasing temperatures. Hence, we investigated the combined data with a model consisting of two blackbodies and a power law (2BBPL), a model suggested for several bright GRBs. We elicit the following interesting features of the 2BBPL model: (1) the same model is applicable from the peak of the last pulse in the prompt emission to the afterglow emission, (2) the ratio of temperatures and the fluxes of the two blackbodies remains constant throughout the observations, (3) the blackbody temperatures and fluxes show a monotonic decrease with time, with the BB fluxes dropping about a factor of two faster than that of the power-law (PL) emission, and (4) attributing the blackbody emission to photospheric emissions, we find that the photospheric radii increase very slowly with time, and the lower-temperature blackbody shows a larger emitting radius than that of the higher-temperature blackbody. We find some evidence that the underlying shape of the nonthermal emission is a cutoff power law rather than a PL. We sketch a spine–sheath jet model to explain our observations.
- OSTI ID:
- 22518751
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 812, 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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