SIMBAD references

2007MNRAS.380..270O - Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 380, 270-280 (2007/September-1)

The two-component afterglow of Swift GRB 050802.

OATES S.R., DE PASQUALE M., PAGE M.J., BLUSTIN A.J., ZANE S., McGOWAN K., MASON K.O., POOLE T.S., SCHADY P., ROMING P.W.A., PAGE K.L., FALCONE A. and GEHRELS N.

Abstract (from CDS):

This paper investigates GRB 050802, one of the best examples of a Swift gamma-ray burst afterglow that shows a break in the X-ray light curve, while the optical counterpart decays as a single power law. This burst has an optically bright afterglow of 16.5 mag, detected throughout the 170-650nm spectral range of the Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope (UVOT) onboard Swift. Observations began with the X-ray Telescope and UVOT telescopes 286s after the initial trigger and continued for 1.2 x106s. The X-ray light curve consists of three power-law segments: a rise until 420s, followed by a slow decay with α =0.63 ±0.03 until 5000s, after which, the light curve decays faster with a slope of α3=1.59 ±0.03. The optical light curve decays as a single power law with αO=0.82 ±0.03 throughout the observation. The X-ray data on their own are consistent with the break at 5000s being due to the end of energy injection. Modelling the optical to X-ray spectral energy distribution, we find that the optical afterglow cannot be produced by the same component as the X-ray emission at late times, ruling out a single-component afterglow. We therefore considered two-component jet models and find that the X-ray and optical emission is best reproduced by a model in which both components are energy injected for the duration of the observed afterglow and the X-ray break at 5000s is due to a jet break in the narrow component. This bright, well-observed burst is likely a guide for interpreting the surprising finding of Swift that bursts seldom display achromatic jet breaks.

Abstract Copyright: 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2007 RAS

Journal keyword(s): gamma-rays: bursts

Simbad objects: 5

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