Extinction properties of the X-ray bright/optically faint afterglow of GRB 020405

We present an optical-to-X-ray spectral analysis of the afterglow of GRB 020405. The optical spectral energy distribution not corrected for the extragalactic extinction is significantly below the X-ray extrapolation of the single powerlaw spectral model suggested by multiwavelength studies. We investigate whether considerable extinction could explain the observed spectral ``mismatch'' by testing several types of extinction curves. For the first time we test extinction curves computed with time-dependent numerical simulations of dust grains destruction by the burst radiation. We find that an extinction law weakly depen dent on wavelength can reconcile the unabsorbed optical and X-ray data with the expected synchrotron spectrum. A gray extinction law can be provided by a dust grain size distribution biased toward large grains.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication on A&

Continuous optical monitoring during the prompt emission of GRB 060111B

We present the time-resolved optical emission of GRB 060111B during its prompt phase, measured with the TAROT robotic observatory. This is the first time that the optical emission from a gamma-ray burst has been continuously monitored with a temporal resolution of a few seconds during the prompt gamma-ray phase. The temporal evolution of the prompt optical emission at the level of several seconds is used to provide a clue to the origin of this emission. The optical emission was found to decay steadily from our first measure, 28s after the trigger, in contrast to the gamma-ray emission, which exhibits strong variability at the same time. This behaviour strongly suggests that the optical emission is due to the reverse shock

Dust properties at z=6.3 in the host galaxy of GRB 050904

We investigate the dust extinction properties in the host galaxy of the Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) GRB 050904 at z=6.29 by analyzing simultaneous broad band observations of the optical and UV afterglow at three different epochs. We show that the peculiar afterglow spectral energy distribution (SED) observed at 0.5 days and at 1 day after the burst (1.6 and 3 hours rest frame) cannot be explained with dust reddening with any of the extinction curves observed at low redshift. Yet, the extinction curve recently inferred for the most distant BAL QSO at z=6.2 nicely reproduces the SED of GRB 050904 at both epochs. Our result provides an additional, independent indication that the properties of dust evolve beyond z~6. We discuss the implications of this finding within the context of the dust production mechanisms through the cosmic ages.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Combining Mathematical Modeling and Thermal Infrared Data in the Freezing of Pharmaceutical Liquid Formulations

Infrared-based (IR) thermal imaging data was combined here with mathematical modeling to describe the freezing process of a pharmaceutical formulation being lyophilized using two different loading configurations; (i) vials in direct contact with the shelf and (ii) vials suspended over it. In all the experiments, the nucleation event was trigged at a specific time instant using the vacuum induced surface freezing (VISF) method. The IR thermal data was given as input to three different mathematical models for freezing and used to estimate the resulting cake's pore size (dp) distribution. The resulting dpvalues were then compared to experimental data obtained through SEM images coupled with an image segmentation tool. The supersaturation model showed the best agreement between the estimated dpand experimental values, while minor discrepancies were shown by the other two models. Nonetheless, the outcomes of these last two models, given as inputs to a mathematical model for the primary drying phase, resulted in satisfactory predictions of the product temperature at the moving front, the product resistance to vapor flow, and the primary drying end point. It follows that the combination of the IR thermocamera and freezing modeling is a promising tool for the in-line monitoring and optimization of a freeze-drying cycle

Investigation of the Freezing Phenomenon in Vials Using an Infrared Camera

The freezing phenomenon has a dramatic impact on the quality of freeze-dried products. Several freezing models applied to solutions in vials have been proposed to predict the resulting product morphology and describe heat transfer mechanisms. However, there is a lack of detailed ex-perimental observations of the freezing phenomenon in vials in the literature. Thus, the present work offers new experimental observations of the freezing phenomenon in vials by infrared (IR) thermography. IR imaging allowed each vial's whole axial temperature profile to be collected during freezing, which offersproviding significant insights into the process. Spontaneous nucle-ation and vacuum-induced surface freezing (VISF), as a controlled nucleation technique, are in-vestigated. Batches having vials in direct contact with the shelf (exchanging heat mainly through conduction) as well as suspended (exchanging heat mainly through natural convection and radi-ation) were tested. The study used three solutions: sucrose 5%, mannitol 5%, and dextran 10%. SEM images coupled with an automated image segmentation technique were also performed to ex-amine possible correlations between the freezing observations and the resulting pore size dis-tributions. IR thermography was found to be a promising tool for experimentally predicting the resulting product morphology in-line

Robust photometric redshift determinations of gamma-ray burst afterglows at z > 2

Theory suggests that about 10% of Swift-detected gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) will originate at redshifts greater than 5 yet a number of high redshift candidates may be left unconfirmed due to the lack of measured redshifts. Here we introduce our code, GRBz, a method of simultaneous multi-parameter fitting of GRB afterglow optical and near infrared, spectral energy distributions. It allows for early determinations of the photometric redshift, spectral index and host extinction to be made. We assume that GRB afterglow spectra are well represented by a power-law decay and model the effects of absorption due to the Lyman forest and host extinction. We use a genetic algorithm-based routine to simultaneously fit the parameters of interest, and a Monte Carlo error analysis. We use GRBs of previously determined spectroscopic redshifts to prove our method, while also introducing new near infrared data of GRB 990510 which further constrains the value of the host extinction. Our method is effective in estimating the photometric redshift of GRBs, relatively unbiased by assumptions of the afterglow spectral index or the host galaxy extinction. Monte Carlo error analysis is required as the method of error estimate based on the optimum population of the genetic algorithm underestimates errors significantly.Comment: Accepted to A&A: 8 pages, 5 figure

Dust extinction properties of a sample of bright X-rays afterglows

Weha vestudie d a sampleof four bright X-rays afterglows of Gammaray Bursts (GRBs) for which the optical spectral energy distributions (SEDs), not corrected for extra-galactic dust extinction, have spectral index consistent with the X-rays spectral index, but with fluxes significantly below the X-rays extrapolation assuming a simple power law spectral model. A simple power law model is suggested by the spectral and temporal indices of these afterglows as already noted in previous works, although a spectral break between the X-rays and the optical band cannot be excluded but in one case. Previous works invoked a non standard extinction law to recover the observed spectral “mismatch”; alternatively, the same electron population may have produced the observed NIR-optical emission via synchrotron radiation and the X-rays via Inverse Compton scattering. We have investigated on the non-standard extinction hypothesis, since high redshift environments can be in principle very different from standard (local) interstellar media and GRB circumburst environment may well be modified by the burst itself. Although the uncertainty on the underlying spectral model prevented us to reach firm conclusions, we found that an extinction curve weakly dependent on the wavelenght makes the optical SED consistent with the X-rays flux extrapolation assuming a simple power law model and provides at the same time rest frame visual extinction values nicely in agreement with the equivalent hydrogen column densities measured from X-rays analysis. An extinction law weakly dependent on the wavelenght can be provided by dust grains destruction dueto thein tenseX-ra ys and UV fluxes from theburst itself or by small dust grains coagulation into larger ones. The large sample of optical–to–X-rays spectrally monitored afterglows provided by Swift will address our findings