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The optical afterglow of the short γ-ray burst GRB 050709
Ist Teil von
Nature, 2005-10, Vol.437 (7060), p.859-861
Ort / Verlag
London: Nature Publishing
Erscheinungsjahr
2005
Link zum Volltext
Quelle
EBSCOhost Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
Beschreibungen/Notizen
It has long been known that there are two classes of γ-ray bursts (GRBs), mainly distinguished by their durations. The breakthrough in our understanding of long-duration GRBs (those lasting more than ∼2 s), which ultimately linked them with energetic type Ic supernovae, came from the discovery of their long-lived X-ray and optical 'afterglows', when precise and rapid localizations of the sources could finally be obtained. X-ray localizations have recently become available for short (duration <2 s) GRBs, which have evaded optical detection for more than 30 years. Here we report the first discovery of transient optical emission (R-band magnitude ∼23) associated with a short burst: GRB 050709. The optical afterglow was localized with subarcsecond accuracy, and lies in the outskirts of a blue dwarf galaxy. The optical and X-ray afterglow properties 34 h after the GRB are reminiscent of the afterglows of long GRBs, which are attributable to synchrotron emission from ultrarelativistic ejecta. We did not, however, detect a supernova, as found in most nearby long GRB afterglows, which suggests a different origin for the short GRBs.