The circumburst environment of a FRED GRB: Study of the prompt emission and X-ray/optical afterglow of GRB 051111

Aims.We report a multi-wavelength analysis of the prompt emission and early afterglow of GRB 051111 and discuss its properties in the context of current fireball models. Methods.The detection of GRB 051111 by the Burst Alert Telescope on-board Swift triggered early BVRi' observations with the 2-m robotic Faulkes Telescope North in Hawaii, as well as X-ray observations with the Swift X-Ray Telescope. Results.The prompt $\gamma$-ray emission shows a classical FRED profile. The optical afterglow light curves are fitted with a broken power law, with ${\alpha}_1=0.35$ to ${\alpha}_2=1.35$ and a break time around 12 min after the GRB. Although contemporaneous X-ray observations were not taken, a power law connection between the $\gamma$-ray tail of the FRED temporal profile and the late XRT flux decay is feasible. Alternatively, if the X-ray afterglow tracks the optical decay, this would represent one of the first GRBs for which the canonical steep-shallow-normal decay typical of early X-ray afterglows has been monitored optically. We present a detailed analysis of the intrinsic extinction, elemental abundances and spectral energy distribution. From the absorption measured in the low X-ray band we find possible evidence for an overabundance of some $\alpha$ elements such as oxygen, [O/Zn] = 0.7 $\pm$ 0.3, or, alternatively, for a significant presence of molecular gas. The IR-to-X-ray Spectral Energy Distribution measured at 80 min after the burst is consistent with the cooling break lying between the optical and X-ray bands. Extensive modelling of the intrinsic extinction suggests dust with big grains or grey extinction profiles. The early optical break is due either to an energy injection episode or, less probably, to a stratified wind environment for the circumburst medium

Liverpool Telescope follow-up of candidate electromagnetic counterparts during the first run of Advanced LIGO

The first direct detection of gravitational waves was made in late 2015 with the Advanced LIGO detectors. By prior arrangement, a worldwide collaboration of electromagnetic follow-up observers were notified of candidate gravitational wave events during the first science run, and many facilities were engaged in the search for counterparts. No counterparts were identified, which is in line with expectations given that the events were classified as black hole - black hole mergers. However these searches laid the foundation for similar follow-up campaigns in future gravitational wave detector science runs, in which the detection of neutron star merger events with observable electromagnetic counterparts is much more likely. Three alerts were issued to the electromagnetic collaboration over the course of the first science run, which lasted from September 2015 to January 2016. Two of these alerts were associated with the gravitational wave events since named GW150914 and GW151226. In this paper we provide an overview of the Liverpool Telescope contribution to the follow-up campaign over this period. Given the hundreds of square degree uncertainty in the sky position of any gravitational wave event, efficient searching for candidate counterparts required survey telescopes with large (~degrees) fields-of-view. The role of the Liverpool Telescope was to provide follow-up classification spectroscopy of any candidates. We followed candidates associated with all three alerts, observing 1, 9 and 17 candidates respectively. We classify the majority of the transients we observed as supernovae

Multiwavelength observations of the energetic GRB 080810 : detailed mapping of the broad-band spectral evolution

GRB 080810 was one of the first bursts to trigger both Swift and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. It was subsequently monitored over the X-ray and UV/optical bands by Swift, in the optical by Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) and a host of other telescopes, and was detected in the radio by the Very Large Array. The redshift of z = 3.355 ± 0.005 was determined by Keck/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) and confirmed by RTT150 and NOT. The prompt gamma/X-ray emission, detected over 0.3–10³ keV, systematically softens over time, with E[subscript peak] moving from ∼600 keV at the start to ∼40 keV around 100 s after the trigger; alternatively, this spectral evolution could be identified with the blackbody temperature of a quasi-thermal model shifting from ∼60 to ∼3 keV over the same time interval. The first optical detection was made at 38 s, but the smooth, featureless profile of the full optical coverage implies that this is originated from the afterglow component, not from the pulsed/flaring prompt emission