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THE AFTERGLOW OF GRB 130427A FROM 1 TO 10(16) GHz

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journal contribution
posted on 2019-10-22, 11:06 authored by DA Perley, SB Cenko, A Corsi, NR Tanvir, AJ Levan, DA Kann, E Sonbas, K Wiersema, W Zheng, X-H Zhao, J-M Bai, M Bremer, AJ Castro-Tirado, L Chang, KI Clubb, D Frail, A Fruchter, E Gogus, J Greiner, T Guver, A Horesh, AV Filippenko, S Klose, J Mao, AN Morgan, AS Pozanenko, S Schmidl, B Stecklum, M Tanga, AA Volnova, AE Volvach, J-G Wang, J-M Winters, Y-X Xin
We present multiwavelength observations of the afterglow of GRB 130427A, the brightest (in total fluence) gamma-ray burst (GRB) of the past 29 yr. Optical spectroscopy from Gemini-North reveals the redshift of the GRB to be z = 0.340, indicating that its unprecedented brightness is primarily the result of its relatively close proximity to Earth; the intrinsic luminosities of both the GRB and its afterglow are not extreme in comparison to other bright GRBs. We present a large suite of multiwavelength observations spanning from 300 s to 130 days after the burst and demonstrate that the afterglow shows relatively simple, smooth evolution at all frequencies, with no significant late-time flaring or rebrightening activity. The entire data set from 1 GHz to 10 GeV can be modeled as synchrotron emission from a combination of reverse and forward shocks in good agreement with the standard afterglow model, providing strong support to the applicability of the underlying theory and clarifying the nature of the GeV emission observed to last for minutes to hours following other very bright GRBs. A tenuous, wind-stratified circumburst density profile is required by the observations, suggesting a massive-star progenitor with a low mass-loss rate, perhaps due to low metallicity. GRBs similar in nature to GRB 130427A, inhabiting low-density media and exhibiting strong reverse shocks, are probably not uncommon but may have been difficult to recognize in the past owing to their relatively faint late-time radio emission; more such events should be found in abundance by the new generation of sensitive radio and millimeter instruments.

Funding

D.A.P. acknowledges a prescient conversation on 2013 April 18 with A. Collazzi in Nashville on the origin of the lack (at the time) of Fermi-LAT GRBs at z < 0.5, and comments from Y. Fan and A. van der Horst. We are grateful for excellent staff assistance at the various observatories where we obtained data. We thank B. Sesar for the execution of our P200 target-of-opportunity observations and assistance with the data reduction. J. Carpenter and CARMA provided additional DDT time to continue observations of GRB 130427A after t = 2 days, and K. Alatalo assisted with flagging and reducing these observations. We thank S. Kulkarni for the Keck/LRIS data. We would like to thank all members of the Swift and Fermi teams, whose successful missions made this work possible. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the NSF operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. Support for CARMA construction was derived from the states of California, Illinois, and Maryland, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation, the University of Chicago, the Associates of the California Institute of Technology, and the NSF. Ongoing CARMA development and operations are supported by the NSF under a cooperative agreement, and by the CARMA partner universities. The article contains data taken with the IRAM Plateau deBure interferometer. IRAM is supported by INSU/CNRS (France), MPG (Germany), and IGN (Spain). We acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y TecnologĂ­a through Projects AYA2009-14000-C03-01/ESP, AYA2011-29517-C03-01, and AYA2012-39727-C03-01. KAIT and its ongoing operation were made possible by donations from Sun Microsystems, Inc., the Hewlett-Packard Company, AutoScope Corporation, Lick Observatory, the NSF, the University of California, the Sylvia and Jim Katzman Foundation, and the TABASGO Foundation. Some of the data presented herein were obtained a

History

Citation

Astrophysical Journal, 2014, 781 (1)

Author affiliation

/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Physics and Astronomy

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Published in

Astrophysical Journal

Publisher

American Astronomical Society, IOP Publishing

issn

0004-637X

eissn

1538-4357

Copyright date

2014

Available date

2019-10-22

Publisher version

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/781/1/37

Language

en