GRB 090426: The environment of a rest-frame 0.35-s gamma-ray burst at a redshift of 2.609

Emily M. Levesque; Joshua S. Bloom; Nathaniel R. Butler; Daniel A. Perley; S. Bradley Cenko; J. Xavier Prochaska; Lisa J. Kewley; Andrew Bunker; Hsiao Wen Chen; Ryan Chornock; Alexei V. Filippenko; Karl Glazebrook; Sebastian Lopez; Joseph Masiero; Maryam Modjaz; Adam Morgan; Dovi Poznanski

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15733.x

GRB 090426: The environment of a rest-frame 0.35-s gamma-ray burst at a redshift of 2.609

Emily M. Levesque, Joshua S. Bloom, Nathaniel R. Butler, Daniel A. Perley, S. Bradley Cenko, J. Xavier Prochaska, Lisa J. Kewley, Andrew Bunker, Hsiao Wen Chen, Ryan Chornock, Alexei V. Filippenko, Karl Glazebrook, Sebastian Lopez, Joseph Masiero, Maryam Modjaz, Adam Morgan, Dovi Poznanski

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Abstract

We present the discovery of an absorption-line redshift of z = 2.609 for GRB 090426, establishing the first firm lower limit to a redshift for a gamma-ray burst (GRB) with an observed duration of <2 s. With a rest-frame burst duration of T_90z = 0.35 s and a detailed examination of the peak energy of the event, we suggest that this is likely (at >90 per cent confidence) a member of the short/hard phenomenological class of GRBs. From analysis of the optical-afterglow spectrum we find that the burst originated along a very low H i column density sightline, with N_{H i} < 3.2 × 10¹⁹ cm^-2. Our GRB 090426 afterglow spectrum also appears to have weaker low-ionization absorption (Si ii, C ii) than ∼95 per cent of previous afterglow spectra. Finally, we also report the discovery of a blue, very luminous, star-forming putative host galaxy (∼2L _*) at a small angular offset from the location of the optical afterglow. We consider the implications of this unique GRB in the context of burst duration classification and our understanding of GRB progenitor scenarios.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	963-972
Number of pages	10
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	401
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15733.x
State	Published - Jan 2010

Keywords

Galaxies: ISM
Gamma-rays: bursts

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15733.x

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Levesque, E. M., Bloom, J. S., Butler, N. R., Perley, D. A., Cenko, S. B., Prochaska, J. X., Kewley, L. J., Bunker, A., Chen, H. W., Chornock, R., Filippenko, A. V., Glazebrook, K., Lopez, S., Masiero, J., Modjaz, M., Morgan, A., & Poznanski, D. (2010). GRB 090426: The environment of a rest-frame 0.35-s gamma-ray burst at a redshift of 2.609. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 401(2), 963-972. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15733.x

Levesque, EM, Bloom, JS, Butler, NR, Perley, DA, Cenko, SB, Prochaska, JX, Kewley, LJ, Bunker, A, Chen, HW, Chornock, R, Filippenko, AV, Glazebrook, K, Lopez, S, Masiero, J, Modjaz, M, Morgan, A & Poznanski, D 2010, 'GRB 090426: The environment of a rest-frame 0.35-s gamma-ray burst at a redshift of 2.609', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 401, no. 2, pp. 963-972. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15733.x

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abstract = "We present the discovery of an absorption-line redshift of z = 2.609 for GRB 090426, establishing the first firm lower limit to a redshift for a gamma-ray burst (GRB) with an observed duration of <2 s. With a rest-frame burst duration of T90z = 0.35 s and a detailed examination of the peak energy of the event, we suggest that this is likely (at >90 per cent confidence) a member of the short/hard phenomenological class of GRBs. From analysis of the optical-afterglow spectrum we find that the burst originated along a very low H i column density sightline, with NH i < 3.2 × 1019 cm-2. Our GRB 090426 afterglow spectrum also appears to have weaker low-ionization absorption (Si ii, C ii) than ∼95 per cent of previous afterglow spectra. Finally, we also report the discovery of a blue, very luminous, star-forming putative host galaxy (∼2L *) at a small angular offset from the location of the optical afterglow. We consider the implications of this unique GRB in the context of burst duration classification and our understanding of GRB progenitor scenarios.",

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doi = "10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15733.x",

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T2 - The environment of a rest-frame 0.35-s gamma-ray burst at a redshift of 2.609

AU - Levesque, Emily M.

AU - Bloom, Joshua S.

AU - Butler, Nathaniel R.

AU - Perley, Daniel A.

AU - Cenko, S. Bradley

AU - Prochaska, J. Xavier

AU - Kewley, Lisa J.

AU - Bunker, Andrew

AU - Chen, Hsiao Wen

AU - Chornock, Ryan

AU - Filippenko, Alexei V.

AU - Glazebrook, Karl

AU - Lopez, Sebastian

AU - Masiero, Joseph

AU - Modjaz, Maryam

AU - Morgan, Adam

AU - Poznanski, Dovi

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N2 - We present the discovery of an absorption-line redshift of z = 2.609 for GRB 090426, establishing the first firm lower limit to a redshift for a gamma-ray burst (GRB) with an observed duration of <2 s. With a rest-frame burst duration of T90z = 0.35 s and a detailed examination of the peak energy of the event, we suggest that this is likely (at >90 per cent confidence) a member of the short/hard phenomenological class of GRBs. From analysis of the optical-afterglow spectrum we find that the burst originated along a very low H i column density sightline, with NH i < 3.2 × 1019 cm-2. Our GRB 090426 afterglow spectrum also appears to have weaker low-ionization absorption (Si ii, C ii) than ∼95 per cent of previous afterglow spectra. Finally, we also report the discovery of a blue, very luminous, star-forming putative host galaxy (∼2L *) at a small angular offset from the location of the optical afterglow. We consider the implications of this unique GRB in the context of burst duration classification and our understanding of GRB progenitor scenarios.

AB - We present the discovery of an absorption-line redshift of z = 2.609 for GRB 090426, establishing the first firm lower limit to a redshift for a gamma-ray burst (GRB) with an observed duration of <2 s. With a rest-frame burst duration of T90z = 0.35 s and a detailed examination of the peak energy of the event, we suggest that this is likely (at >90 per cent confidence) a member of the short/hard phenomenological class of GRBs. From analysis of the optical-afterglow spectrum we find that the burst originated along a very low H i column density sightline, with NH i < 3.2 × 1019 cm-2. Our GRB 090426 afterglow spectrum also appears to have weaker low-ionization absorption (Si ii, C ii) than ∼95 per cent of previous afterglow spectra. Finally, we also report the discovery of a blue, very luminous, star-forming putative host galaxy (∼2L *) at a small angular offset from the location of the optical afterglow. We consider the implications of this unique GRB in the context of burst duration classification and our understanding of GRB progenitor scenarios.

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GRB 090426: The environment of a rest-frame 0.35-s gamma-ray burst at a redshift of 2.609

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