Metallicities of high redshift GRB hosts: The case of GRB 100219A

GRB 100219A at z = 4.667 has been the highest redshift gamma‐ray burst observed with the X‐shooter spectrograph up to now. The spectrum covering the range from 5000 to 24000 Å and a large number of absorption lines allows to make a detailed study of the interstellar medium in a high redshift galaxy. The ISM in the low ionisation state and the kinematics of the absorption line components reveal a complex velocity field. The metallicity measured from different absorption lines is around 0.1 solar. Other GRB hosts at redshift beyond ∼3 have similar metallicities albeit with a large scatter in the metallicity distribution. X‐shooter will allow us to determine metallicities of a larger number of GRB hosts beyond redshift 5, to probe the early chemical enrichment of the Universe and to study its evolution from redshift 2 to beyond 10 (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Absorption spectroscopy of gamma‐ray burst afterglows: Probing the GRB line of sight

GRB absorption spectroscopy opened up a new window in the study of the high redshift Universe, especially with the launch of the Swift satellite and the quick and precise localization of the afterglow. Eight‐meter class telescopes can be repointed within a few hours from the GRB, enabling the acquisition of high signal‐to‐noise ratio and high resolution afterglow spectra. In this paper I will give a short review of what we learned through this technique, and I will present some of the first results obtained with the X‐shooter spectrograph (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Observing GRB host galaxies with the integral field unit of X‐shooter

Using the integral field unit of X‐shooter at VLT, we have recovered the first velocity fields of GRB host galaxies at redshift <0.6. This facility is able to recover not only the velocity fields from almost all emission lines thanks to an unrivaled wavelength coverage, but also to recover maps of physical properties. We present the preliminary analysis of X‐shooter/IFU observations dedicated to the study of GRB host galaxies undertaken in the frame of the Italian‐French GTO program. Our goal is to understand the physical processes at the origin of the GRB by analyzing in detail the spatial distributions of the kinematics, metallicities, extinction, star‐formation, and how they are inter‐related (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Spectroscopy of the γ-ray burst GRB 021004: a structured jet ploughing through a massive stellar wind

We present spectra of the afterglow of the γ-ray burst GRB 021004 taken with the ISIS spectrograph on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) and with the Focal Reducer/Low Dispersion Spectrograph 1 (FORS1) on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at three epochs spanning 0.49–6.62 d after the burst. We observe strong absorption probably coming from the host galaxy, alongside absorption in H  i , Si  iv and C  iv with blueshifts of up to 2900 km s⁻¹ from the explosion centre, which we assume originates close to the progenitor. We find no significant variability of these spectral features. We investigate the origin of the outflowing material and evaluate various possible progenitor models. The most plausible explanation is that these result in the fossil stellar wind of a highly evolved Wolf–Rayet (WR) star. However, ionization from the burst itself prevents the existence of H  i , Si  iv and C  iv close to the afterglow surface where the fast stellar wind should dominate, and large amounts of blueshifted hydrogen are not expected in a WR star wind. We propose that the WR star wind is enriched by a hydrogen-rich companion, and that the GRB has a structured jet geometry in which the γ-rays emerge in a small opening angle within the wider opening angle of the cone of the afterglow. This scenario is able to explain both the spectral-line features and the irregular light curve of this afterglow.     

Using X‐shooter to measure the extinction in long GRB host galaxies from emission lines

The spectra of the host galaxies of gamma‐ray bursts at low redshift generally show strong hydrogen lines of the Balmer, Paschen and Brackett series, in addition to strong nebular metal lines. In special cases the hosts can be resolved in separate star forming regions, and spatially resolved spectroscopy can be obtained. Generally, the three strongest Balmer lines are used to derive the reddening experienced by the emission lines of the host gas, assuming a Milky Way extinction curve, case B recombination and a fixed electron temperature. We demonstrate how the wide wavelength range of X‐shooter, in combination with a rigorous calibration strategy, can be used to fit explicitly for R_V, T_e, and A_V simultaneously using a large number of H and He I recombination lines, explicitly corrected for stellar atmosphere absorption. This increases our understanding of extinction and absorption in starforming regions in GRB hosts. We use two GRB hosts as examples of the methods, outlining the advantages of using X‐shooter over other instruments (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

GRB host galaxies studies with X‐shooter

Gamma‐ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful explosions since the formation of the Universe, associated with the death of massive stars or mergers of compact stellar objects. Several recent striking results strongly support the idea that host galaxies of GRBs are opening a new view on our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution, back to the very primordial universe at z ∼ 8. They form a unique sample of galaxies which cover a wide range of redshift, they are typically weak with low mass and unlike other methods they are not selected on luminosity. In recent years, thanks to the support of new generation instruments, multi‐band photometry and spectroscopy allow us to better investigate the properties of these host galaxies (e.g., stellar mass, age, SFR, metallicity), to study their possible evolution and to compare them with field galaxies and other classes of galaxies. GRB host spectroscopy is one of the main science drivers behind the X‐shooter spectrograph. In this paper, we present the first results of the program devoted to Italian‐French GTO multiband spectroscopy of GRB host galaxies with X‐shooter (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Host galaxy of the dark gamma-ray burst GRB 051008

We have discovered and studied the host galaxy of the “dark” gamma-ray burst GRB051008, a burst for which no optical afterglow has been detected. We studied the properties and determined the redshift of the host galaxy and analyzed its neighborhood. We perform a comparative analysis of the properties of GRB051008 and its host galaxy with the properties of other known dark gamma-ray bursts. We analyze the causes of the lack of optical afterglow in this gamma-ray burst.     

Searching for the host galaxy of GRB 920925C

GRB 920925C is probably the first cosmic gamma-ray burst with an optical afterglow detected from archival data. We present the results of our observations with the Shajn mirror telescope of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory aimed at searching for the host galaxy at the afterglow location; we have determined the boundaries of distances to the possible host galaxy.     

The extreme, red afterglow of GRB 060923A: distance or dust?

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powerful probes of the early Universe, but locating and identifying very distant GRBs remain challenging. We report here the discovery of the K -band afterglow of Swift GRB 060923A, imaged within the first hour post-burst, and the faintest so far found. It was not detected in any bluer bands to deep limits, making it a candidate very high- z burst  ( z ≳ 11)  . However, our later-time optical imaging and spectroscopy reveal a faint galaxy coincident with the GRB position which, if it is the host, implies a more moderate redshift (most likely   z ≲ 2.8  ) and therefore that dust is the likely cause of the very red-afterglow colour. This being the case, it is one of the few instances so far found of a GRB afterglow with high-dust extinction.     

A High-Eccentricity Low-Mass Companion to HD 89744

We present deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging, as well as ground-based imaging and spectroscopy, of the optical afterglow associated with the long-duration gamma-ray burst GRB 990712 and its host galaxy. The data were obtained 48-123 days after the burst occurred. The magnitudes of the host (R=21.9, V=22.5) and optical afterglow (R=25.4, V=25.8, 47.7 days after the burst) favor a scenario in which the optical light follows a pure power-law decay with an index of alpha approximately -1.0. We find no evidence for a contribution from a supernova like SN 1998bw. This suggests that either there are multiple classes of long-duration gamma-ray bursts or that the peak luminosity of the supernova was more than 1.5 mag fainter than SN 1998bw. The HST images and EFOSC2 spectra indicate that the gamma-ray burst was located in a bright, extended feature (possibly a star-forming region) 1.4 kpc from the nucleus of a 0.2L*B galaxy at z=0.434, possibly a Seyfert 2 galaxy. The late-time afterglow and host galaxy of GRB 990712 bear some resemblance to those of GRB 970508.     

Status of the ROTSE‐III telescope network

ROTSE‐III is a homogeneous worldwide array of 4 robotic telescopes. They were designed to provide optical observations of γ ‐ray burst (GRB) afterglows as close as possible to the start of γ ‐ray emission. ROTSE‐III is fulfilling its potential for GRB science, and provides optical observations for a variety of astrophysical sources in the interim between GRB events. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Hard electron energy distribution in the relativistic shocks of gamma-ray burst afterglows

Particle acceleration in relativistic shocks is not a very well understood subject. Owing to that difficulty, radiation spectra from relativistic shocks, such as those in gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows, have been often modelled by making assumptions about the underlying electron distribution. One such assumption is a relatively soft distribution of the particle energy, which need not be true always, as is obvious from observations of several GRB afterglows. In this paper, we describe modifications to the afterglow standard model to accommodate energy spectra which are 'hard'. We calculate the overall evolution of the synchrotron and Compton flux arising from such a distribution. We also model two afterglows, GRB010222 and GRB020813, under this assumption and estimate the physical parameters.     

Studying the SN‐GRB connection with X‐shooter: The GRB 100316D / SN 2010bh case

During the last ten years, observations of long‐duration gamma‐ray bursts brought to the conclusion that at least a fraction of them is associated with bright supernovae of type Ib/c. In this talk, after a short review on the previously observed GRB‐SN connection cases, we present the recent case of GRB 100316/SN 2010bh. In particular, during the observational campaign of SN 2010bh, a pivotal role was played by VLT/X‐shooter, sampling with unique high quality data the spectral energy distribution of the early evolution phases from the UV to the K band (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Optical Flash of GRB 990123: Constraints on the Physical Parameters of the Reverse Shock

The optical flash accompanying GRB 990123 is believed to be powered by the reverse shock of a thin shell. With the best-fit physical parameters for GRB 990123 and the assumption that the parameters in the optical flash are the same as in the afterglow, we show that: 1) the shell is thick rather than thin, and we have provided the light curve for the thick shell case which coincides with the observation; 2) the theoretical peak flux of the optical flash accounts for only 3×10~-4 of the observed. In order to remove this discrepancy, the physical parameters, the electron energy and magnetic ratios, εe and εB, should be 0.61 and 0.39, which are very different from their values for the late afterglow.     

Ring-Shaped Jets in Gamma-Ray Bursts

When the axis of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) does not coincide with the spin axis of its source, there may result a ring-shaped jet. Using some refined jet dynamics, we calculate multi-wavelength afterglow light curves for such ring-shaped jets. In the R-band we find an obvious break in the afterglow light curve due to the beaming effect and the break is affected by many parameters, such as the electron energy fraction ξe, the magnetic energy fraction ξ2B, the width of ring A0 and the medium number density n. The overall light curve can be divided into three power-law stages, I.e., an ultra-relativistic stage, an after-break stage and a deep Newtonian stage. For each stage the power-law index is larger in the ring-shaped jet than in the corresponding conical jet.     

Tail Emission from a Ring-like Jet: Its Application to Shallow Decays of Early Afterglows and GRB 050709

Similar to the case of pulsars the magnetic axis and the spin axis of gamma-ray burst sources may not lie on the same line. This may cause the formation of a ring-like jet due to collimation of the processing magnetic axis. We analyze the tail emission from such a jet, and find that it has a shallow decay phase with a temporal index of -1/2 if the Lorentz factor of the ejecta is not very high, which is consistent with the shallow decay phase of some early X-ray afterglow detected by Swift. The ring-like jet has a tail cusp with sharp rising and very sharp decay. This effect can provide an explanation for the re-brightening and sharp decay of the X-ray afterglow of GRB 050709.     

GRB‐selected galaxies

We describe the current status and recent results from our Swift/VLT legacy survey, a VLT Large Programme aimed at characterizing the host galaxies of a homogeneously selected sub‐sample of Swift gamma‐ray bursts (GRBs). The immediate goals are to determine the host luminosity function, study the effects of reddening, determine the fraction of Lyα emitters in the hosts, and obtain redshifts for targets without a reported one. We have defined a very carefully selected sample, obeying strict and well‐defined criteria: 68 targets in total. Among the preliminary results is a large optical detection rate, the lack of extremely red objects (only one possible case in the sample), and 10 new GRB redshifts with the mean redshift of the host sample assessed to be 〈z 〉 ≳ 2 (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The iron emission line complex of MCG‐5‐23‐16: the long XMMNewton look

We present the results of the simultaneous XMM‐Newton and Chandra observations of the bright Seyfert 1.9 galaxy MCG–5‐23‐16, which is one of the best known examples of a relativistically broadened iron Kα line. We find that: a) the soft X‐ray emission is likely to be dominated by photoionized gas, b) the complex iron emission line is best modelled with a narrow and a broad component with a FWHM ∼44000 km/s. This latter component has an EW ∼50 eV and its profile is well described with an emission line mainly originating from the accretion disk a few tens of gravitational radii from the central black hole and viewed with an inclination angle ∼40°. We found evidence of a possible sporadic absorption line at ∼7.7 keV which, if associated with Fe XXVI Kα resonance absorption, is indicative of a possible high velocity (v ∼ 0.1c) outflow. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The Excess Density of Field Galaxies near <Emphasis Type="Italic">z</Emphasis> ~ 0.56 around the Gamma-Ray Burst GRB021004 Position

We test for reliability any signatures of field galaxies clustering in the GRB021004 line of sight. The first signature is the GRB021004 field photometric redshifts distribution based on the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences observations with a peak near z ~ 0.56 estimated from multicolor photometry in the GRB direction. The second signature is the Mg II λλ2796, 2803 Å absorption doublet at z ≈ 0.56 in VLT/UVES spectra obtained for the GRB021004 afterglow. The third signature is the galaxy clustering in a larger (of about 3° × 3°) area around GRB021004 with an effective peak near z ~ 0.56 for both the spectral and photometric redshifts from a few catalogs of clusters based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) as a part of SDSS-III. From catalog data the size of the whole inhomogeneity in distribution of the galaxy cluster with the peak near z ≈ 0.56 was also estimated as about 6°–8° or 140–190 Mpc. A possibility of inhomogeneity (a galaxy cluster) near the GRB021004 direction can be also confirmed by an inhomogeneity in cosmic microwave background related with the Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect.     

Spectral lag of gamma‐ray bursts caused by the intrinsic spectral evolution and the curvature effect

Assuming an intrinsic ‘Band’ shape spectrum and an intrinsic energy‐independent emission profile we have investigated the connection between the evolution of the rest‐frame spectral parameters and the spectral lags measured in gamma‐ray burst (GRB) pulses by using a pulse model. We first focus our attention on the evolution of the peak energy, E_0,p, and neglect the effect of the curvature effect. It is found that the evolution of E_0,p alone can produce the observed lags. When E_0,p varies from hard to soft only the positive lags can be observed. The negative lags would occur in the case of E_0,p varying from soft to hard. When the evolution of E_0,p and the low‐energy spectral index α₀ varying from soft to hard then to soft we can find the aforesaid two sorts of lags. We then examine the combined case of the spectral evolution and the curvature effect of fireball and find the observed spectral lags would increase. A sample including 15 single pulses whose spectral evolution follows hard to soft has been investigated. All the lags of these pulses are positive, which is in good agreement with our theoretical predictions. Our analysis shows that only the intrinsic spectral evolution can produce the spectral lags and the observed lags should be contributed by the intrinsic spectral evolution and the curvature effect. But it is still unclear what cause the spectral evolution (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)