Fermi Observations of GRB 090510: A Short Hard Gamma-Ray Burst with an Additional, Hard Power-Law Component from 10 keV to GeV Energies

Journal Article · Thu May 27 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · The Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/716/2/1178· OSTI ID:1357548

Ackermann, M.; Asano, K.; Atwood, W. B.; Axelsson, M.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Baring, M. G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Berenji, B.; Bhat, P. N.; Bissaldi, E.; Blandford, R. D.; Bloom, E. D.; Bonamente, E.; Borgland, A. W.; Bouvier, A.; Bregeon, J. ; Brez, A.; Briggs, M. S.; Brigida, M.; Bruel, P.; Buson, S.; Caliandro, G. A.; Cameron, R. A.; Caraveo, P. A.; Carrigan, S.; Casandjian, J. M.; Cecchi, C.; Çelik, Ö.; Charles, E.; Chiang, J.; Ciprini, S.; Claus, R.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.; Connaughton, V.; Dermer, C. D.; de Palma, F.; Dingus, B. L.; do Couto e Silva, E.; Drell, P. S.; Dubois, R.; Dumora, D.; Farnier, C.; Favuzzi, C.; Fegan, S. J.; Finke, J.; Focke, W. B.; Frailis, M.; Fukazawa, Y.; Fusco, P.; Gargano, F.; Gasparrini, D.; Gehrels, N.; Germani, S.; Giglietto, N.; Giordano, F.; Glanzman, T.; Godfrey, G.; Granot, J.; Grenier, I. A.; Grondin, M. -H.; Grove, J. E.; Guiriec, S.; Hadasch, D.; Harding, A. K.; Hays, E.; Horan, D.; Hughes, R. E.; Jóhannesson, G.; Johnson, W. N.; Kamae, T.; Katagiri, H.; Kataoka, J.; Kawai, N.; Kippen, R. M.; Knödlseder, J.; Kocevski, D.; Kouveliotou, C.; Kuss, M.; Lande, J.; Latronico, L.; Lemoine-Goumard, M.; Llena Garde, M.; Longo, F.; Loparco, F.; Lott, B.; Lovellette, M. N.; Lubrano, P.; Makeev, A.; Mazziotta, M. N.; McEnery, J. E.; McGlynn, S.; Meegan, C.; Mészáros, P.; Michelson, P. F.; Mitthumsiri, W.; Mizuno, T.; Moiseev, A. A.; Monte, C.; Monzani, M. E.; Moretti, E.; Morselli, A.; Moskalenko, I. V.; Murgia, S.; Nakajima, H.; Nakamori, T.; Nolan, P. L.; Norris, J. P.; Nuss, E.; Ohno, M.; Ohsugi, T.; Omodei, N.; Orlando, E.; Ormes, J. F.; Ozaki, M.; Paciesas, W. S.; Paneque, D.; Panetta, J. H.; Parent, D.; Pelassa, V.; Pepe, M.; Pesce-Rollins, M.; Piron, F.; Preece, R.; Rainò, S.; Rando, R.; Razzano, M.; Razzaque, S.; Reimer, A.; Ritz, S.; Rodriguez, A. Y.; Roth, M.; Ryde, F.; Sadrozinski, H. F. -W.; Sander, A.; Scargle, J. D.; Schalk, T. L.; Sgrò, C.; Siskind, E. J.; Smith, P. D.; Spandre, G.; Spinelli, P.; Stamatikos, M.; Stecker, F. W.; Strickman, M. S.; Suson, D. J.; Tajima, H.; Takahashi, H.; Takahashi, T.; Tanaka, T.; Thayer, J. B.; Thayer, J. G.; Thompson, D. J.; Toma, K.; Torres, D. F.; Tosti, G.; Tramacere, A.; Uchiyama, Y.; Uehara, T.; Usher, T. L.; van der Horst, A. J.; Vasileiou, V.; Vilchez, N.; Vitale, V.; von Kienlin, A.; Waite, A. P.; Wang, P.; Wilson-Hodge, C.; Winer, B. L.; Wu, X. F.; Yamazaki, R.; Yang, Z.; Ylinen, T.; Ziegler, M.

We present detailed observations of the bright short-hard gamma-ray burst GRB 090510 made with the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi observatory. GRB 090510 is the first burst detected by the LAT that shows strong evidence for a deviation from a Band spectral fitting function during the prompt emission phase. The time-integrated spectrum is fit by the sum of a Band function with E _peak = 3.9 ± 0.3 MeV, which is the highest yet measured, and a hard power-law component with photon index –1.62 ± 0.03 that dominates the emission below ≈20 keV and above ≈100 MeV. The onset of the high-energy spectral component appears to be delayed by ~0.1 s with respect to the onset of a component well fit with a single Band function. A faint GBM pulse and a LAT photon are detected 0.5 s before the main pulse. During the prompt phase, the LAT detected a photon with energy 30.5^+5.8 _–2.6 GeV, the highest ever measured from a short GRB. Observation of this photon sets a minimum bulk outflow Lorentz factor, Γ≳ 1200, using simple γγ opacity arguments for this GRB at redshift z = 0.903 and a variability timescale on the order of tens of ms for the ≈100 keV-few MeV flux. Stricter high confidence estimates imply Γ ≳ 1000 and still require that the outflows powering short GRBs are at least as highly relativistic as those of long-duration GRBs. Finally, implications of the temporal behavior and power-law shape of the additional component on synchrotron/synchrotron self-Compton, external-shock synchrotron, and hadronic models are considered.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• Contributing Organization: The Fermi LAT Collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1357548
• Journal Information: The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 716, Issue 2; ISSN 0004-637X
• Publisher: Institute of Physics (IOP)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
gamma-ray burst: individual (GRB 090510)
radiation mechanisms: non-thermal