59 research outputs found
Discovery of a Transient Absorption Edge in the X-ray Spectrum of GRB 990705
We report the discovery of a transient equivalent hydrogen column density
with an absorption edge at ~3.8 kiloelectron volts in the spectrum of the
prompt x-ray emission of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 990705. This feature can be
satisfactorily modeled with a photoelectric absorption by a medium located at a
redshift of ~0.86 and with an iron abundance of ~75 times the solar one. The
transient behavior is attributed to the strong ionization produced in the
circumburst medium by the GRB photons. The high iron abundance points to the
existence of a burst environment enriched by a supernova along the line of
sight. The supernova explosion is estimated to have occurred about 10 years
before the burst. Our results agree with models in which GRBs originate from
the collapse of very massive stars and are preceded by a supernova eventComment: 15 pages,3 fig.s, link to the published paper in Science, 290, 953
(2000) through http://tonno.tesre.bo.cnr.it/~amati/curric/node6.html#papsc
BeppoSAX Detection and Follow-up of GRB980425
We present BeppoSAX GRBM and WFC light curves of GRB980425 and NFI follow-up
data taken in 1998 April, May, and November. The first NFI observation has
detected within the 8' radius error box of the GRB an X-ray source positionally
consistent with the supernova SN 1998bw, exploded within a day of GRB980425,
and a fainter X-ray source, not consistent with the position of the supernova.
The former source is detected in the following NFI pointings and exhibits a
decline of a factor of two in six months. If it is associated with SN 1998bw,
this is the first detection of hard X-ray emission from a Type I supernova. The
latter source exhibits only marginally significant variability. Based on these
data, it is not possible to select either source as a firm candidate for the
GRB counterpart.Comment: 2 pages, 1 PostScript figure, submitted to A&AS, Proc. of the
Conference "Gamma-Ray Bursts in the Afterglow Era", held in Rome, 1998
November 3-6. Results concerning 'Source 2' have been update
Prompt and delayed emission properties of Gamma-Ray Bursts observed with BeppoSAX
We investigated the spectral evolution in the 2--700 keV energy band of
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) detected by the Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GRBM) and
localized with the Wide Field Cameras (WFCs) aboard the BeppoSAX satellite
before May 1998. Most of them have been followed-up with the Narrow Field
Instruments aboard the same satellite. In the light of these results we discuss
open issues on the GRB phenomenon. We find that the optically thin synchrotron
shock model (SSM) provides an acceptable representation of most of the
time-resolved GRB spectra extending down to 2 keV, except in the initial phases
of several bursts and during the whole duration of the quite strong GRB970111,
where a low-energy photon depletion with respect to the thin SSM spectrum is
observed. We find that the X-ray afterglow starts at about 50% of the GRB
duration, and that its fluence, as computed from the WFC light curve, is
consistent with the decay law found from the afterglow NFI observations. We
also investigate the hydrodynamical evolution of the GRB in our sample and
their associated afterglow, when it was detected. We find that the photon index
of the latest spectrum of the GRB prompt emission is correlated with the index
of the afterglow fading law, when available, as expected on the basis of an
external shock of a relativistic fireball.Comment: 35 pages, 1 LaTeX file, 20 postscript figures, 1 postscript table,
accepted for pubblication in Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.
Corrected error bars in Fig.2/GRB980425/panel B and GRB980425 fluence in Tab.
BeppoSAX Observations of GRB980425: Detection of the Prompt Event and Monitoring of the Error Box
We present BeppoSAX follow-up observations of GRB980425 obtained with the
Narrow Field Instruments (NFI) in April, May, and November 1998. The first NFI
observation has detected within the 8' radius error box of the GRB an X-ray
source positionally consistent with the supernova 1998bw, which exploded within
a day of GRB980425, and a fainter X-ray source, not consistent with the
position of the supernova. The former source is detected in the following NFI
pointings and exhibits a decline of a factor of two in six months. If it is
associated with SN 1998bw, this is the first detection of X-ray emission from a
Type I supernova above 2 keV. The latter source exhibits only marginally
significant variability. The X-ray spectra and variability of the supernova are
compared with thermal and non-thermal models of supernova high energy emission.
Based on the BeppoSAX data, it is not possible to firmly establish which of the
two detected sources is the GRB X-ray counterpart, although probability
considerations favor the supernova.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, 6 PostScript figures and 1 GIF figure, 2 tables,
submitted to The Astrophysical Journa
High Energy Properties of X-ray Sources observed with BeppoSAX
We report on highlight results on celestial sources observed in the high
energy band (>20 keV) with BeppoSAX. In particular we review the spectral
properties of sources that belong to different classes of objects, i.e. stellar
coronae (Algol), supernova remnants (Cas A), low mass X-ray binaries (Cygnus
X-2 and the X-ray burster GS1826-238), black hole candidates (Cygnus X-1) and
Active Galactic Nuclei (Mkn 3). We detect, for the first time, the broad-band
spectrum of a stellar corona up to 100 keV; for Cas A we report upper limits to
the ^44Ti line intensities that are lower than those available to date; for Cyg
X-2 we report the evidence of a high energy component; we report a clear
detection of a broad Fe K line feature from Cygnus X-1 in soft state and during
its transition to hard state; Mkn 3 is one of several Seyfert 2 galaxies
detected with BeppoSAX at high energies, for which Compton scattering process
is important.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of the 1997 Conference on 'The Active
X-ray Sky: Results from BeppoSAX and Rossi-XTE' eds. L. Scarsi, F. Fiore and
P. Giomm
GRB010222: afterglow emission from a rapidly decelerating shock
The GRB010222 optical and near-infrared (NIR) afterglow was monitored at the
TNG and other Italian telescopes starting ~1 day after the high-energy prompt
event. The optical BVR light curves, which are the best sampled, are
continuously steepening, and can be described by two power laws, f(t) =
t^(-alpha), of indices alpha_1 ~ 0.7 and alpha_2 ~ 1.3 before and after a break
occurring at about 0.5 days after the GRB start time, respectively. This model
accounts well also for the flux in the U, I and J bands, which are less well
monitored. The temporal break appears to be achromatic. The two K-band points
are not consistent with the above behaviour, and rather suggest a constant
trend. A low-resolution optical spectrum has also been taken with TNG. In the
optical spectrum we found three absorption systems at different redshifts
(0.927, 1.155 and 1.475), the highest of which represents a lower limit to, and
probably coincides with, the redshift of this GRB. The broad-band optical
spectral energy distributions do not appear to vary with time, consistently
with the achromatic behaviour of the light curves. We compare our measurements
with different afterglow evolution scenarios and we find that they favor a
transition from relativistic to non-relativistic conditions in the shock
propagation.Comment: Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics; modified according to
referee's comments. Two figures added, U-band photometry corrected,
hydrodynamic description of the afterglow revised, host galaxy absorption
considered, references adde
The very red afterglow of GRB 000418 - further evidence for dust extinction in a GRB host galaxy
We report near-infrared and optical follow-up observations of the afterglow
of the Gamma-Ray Burst 000418 starting 2.5 days after the occurrence of the
burst and extending over nearly seven weeks. GRB 000418 represents the second
case for which the afterglow was initially identified by observations in the
near-infrared. During the first 10 days its R-band afterglow was well
characterized by a single power-law decay with a slope of 0.86. However, at
later times the temporal evolution of the afterglow flattens with respect to a
simple power-law decay. Attributing this to an underlying host galaxy we find
its magnitude to be R=23.9 and an intrinsic afterglow decay slope of 1.22. The
afterglow was very red with R-K=4 mag. The observations can be explained by an
adiabatic, spherical fireball solution and a heavy reddening due to dust
extinction in the host galaxy. This supports the picture that (long) bursts are
associated with events in star-forming regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 12 pages;
citations & references updated; minor textual change
BeppoSAX Observations of GRB980425: Detection of the Prompt Event and Monitoring of the Error Box
We present BeppoSAX follow-up observations of GRB980425 obtained with the Narrow Field Instruments (NFI) in April, May, and November 1998. The first NFI observation has detected within the 8' radius error box of the GRB an X-ray source positionally consistent with the supernova 1998bw, which exploded within a day of GRB980425, and a fainter X-ray source, not consistent with the position of the supernova. The former source is detected in the following NFI pointings and exhibits a decline of a factor of two in six months. If it is associated with SN 1998bw, this is the first detection of X-ray emission from a Type I supernova above 2 keV. The latter source exhibits only marginally significant variability. The X-ray spectra and variability of the supernova are compared with thermal and non-thermal models of supernova high energy emission. Based on the BeppoSAX data, it is not possible to firmly establish which of the two detected sources is the GRB X-ray counterpart, although probability considerations favor the supernova
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