GRB 090926A AND BRIGHT LATE-TIME FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE GAMMA-RAY BURST AFTERGLOWS


Swenson C. A., Maxham A., Roming P. W. A., Schady P., Vetere L., Zhang B. B., ...Daha Fazla

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS, cilt.718, sa.1, 2010 (SCI-Expanded) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 718 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2010
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1088/2041-8205/718/1/l14
  • Dergi Adı: ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: gamma-ray burst: general, gamma-ray burst: individual (GRB 090926A), shock waves, LIGHT CURVES, SWIFT, FLARES, EMISSION, MISSION, SPECTRA, PROMPT
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

GRB 090926A was detected by both the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and Large Area Telescope (LAT) instruments on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Swift follow-up observations began similar to 13 hr after the initial trigger. The optical afterglow was detected for nearly 23 days post trigger, placing it in the long-lived category. The afterglow is of particular interest due to its brightness at late times, as well as the presence of optical flares at T0+10(5) s and later, which may indicate late-time central engine activity. The LAT has detected a total of 16 gamma-ray bursts; nine of these bursts, including GRB 090926A, also have been observed by Swift. Of the nine Swift-observed LAT bursts, six were detected by UVOT, with five of the bursts having bright, long-lived optical afterglows. In comparison, Swift has been operating for five years and has detected nearly 500 bursts, but has only seen similar to 30% of bursts with optical afterglows that live longer than 10(5) s. We have calculated the predicted gamma-ray fluence, as would have been seen by the Burst Alert Telescope ( BAT) on board Swift, of the LAT bursts to determine whether this high percentage of long-lived optical afterglows is unique, when compared to BAT-triggered bursts. We find that, with the exception of the short burst GRB 090510A, the predicted BAT fluences indicate that the LAT bursts are more energetic than 88% of all Swift bursts and also have brighter than average X-ray and optical afterglows.