ALBERT

Description: Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) release copious amounts of energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and so provide a window into the process of black hole formation from the collapse of massive stars. Previous early optical observations of even the most exceptional GRBs (990123 and 030329) lacked both the temporal resolution to probe the optical flash in detail and the accuracy needed to trace the transition from the prompt emission within the outflow to external shocks caused by interaction with the progenitor environment. Here we report observations of the extraordinarily bright prompt optical and gamma-ray emission of GRB 080319B that provide diagnostics within seconds of its formation, followed by broadband observations of the afterglow decay that continued for weeks. We show that the prompt emission stems from a single physical region, implying an extremely relativistic outflow that propagates within the narrow inner core of a two-component jet.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Racusin, J L -- Karpov, S V -- Sokolowski, M -- Granot, J -- Wu, X F -- Pal'shin, V -- Covino, S -- van der Horst, A J -- Oates, S R -- Schady, P -- Smith, R J -- Cummings, J -- Starling, R L C -- Piotrowski, L W -- Zhang, B -- Evans, P A -- Holland, S T -- Malek, K -- Page, M T -- Vetere, L -- Margutti, R -- Guidorzi, C -- Kamble, A P -- Curran, P A -- Beardmore, A -- Kouveliotou, C -- Mankiewicz, L -- Melandri, A -- O'Brien, P T -- Page, K L -- Piran, T -- Tanvir, N R -- Wrochna, G -- Aptekar, R L -- Barthelmy, S -- Bartolini, C -- Beskin, G M -- Bondar, S -- Bremer, M -- Campana, S -- Castro-Tirado, A -- Cucchiara, A -- Cwiok, M -- D'Avanzo, P -- D'Elia, V -- Valle, M Della -- de Ugarte Postigo, A -- Dominik, W -- Falcone, A -- Fiore, F -- Fox, D B -- Frederiks, D D -- Fruchter, A S -- Fugazza, D -- Garrett, M A -- Gehrels, N -- Golenetskii, S -- Gomboc, A -- Gorosabel, J -- Greco, G -- Guarnieri, A -- Immler, S -- Jelinek, M -- Kasprowicz, G -- La Parola, V -- Levan, A J -- Mangano, V -- Mazets, E P -- Molinari, E -- Moretti, A -- Nawrocki, K -- Oleynik, P P -- Osborne, J P -- Pagani, C -- Pandey, S B -- Paragi, Z -- Perri, M -- Piccioni, A -- Ramirez-Ruiz, E -- Roming, P W A -- Steele, I A -- Strom, R G -- Testa, V -- Tosti, G -- Ulanov, M V -- Wiersema, K -- Wijers, R A M J -- Winters, J M -- Zarnecki, A F -- Zerbi, F -- Meszaros, P -- Chincarini, G -- Burrows, D N -- England -- Nature. 2008 Sep 11;455(7210):183-8. doi: 10.1038/nature07270.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA. racusin@astro.psu.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18784718" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Magnetars are young neutron stars with very strong magnetic fields of the order of 10(14)-10(15) G. They are detected in our Galaxy either as soft gamma-ray repeaters or anomalous X-ray pulsars. Soft gamma-ray repeaters are a rare type of gamma-ray transient sources that are occasionally detected as bursters in the high-energy sky. No optical counterpart to the gamma-ray flares or the quiescent source has yet been identified. Here we report multi-wavelength observations of a puzzling source, SWIFT J195509+261406. We detected more than 40 flaring episodes in the optical band over a time span of three days, and a faint infrared flare 11 days later, after which the source returned to quiescence. Our radio observations confirm a Galactic nature and establish a lower distance limit of approximately 3.7 kpc. We suggest that SWIFT J195509+261406 could be an isolated magnetar whose bursting activity has been detected at optical wavelengths, and for which the long-term X-ray emission is short-lived. In this case, a new manifestation of magnetar activity has been recorded and we can consider SWIFT J195509+261406 to be a link between the 'persistent' soft gamma-ray repeaters/anomalous X-ray pulsars and dim isolated neutron stars.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Castro-Tirado, A J -- de Ugarte Postigo, A -- Gorosabel, J -- Jelinek, M -- Fatkhullin, T A -- Sokolov, V V -- Ferrero, P -- Kann, D A -- Klose, S -- Sluse, D -- Bremer, M -- Winters, J M -- Nuernberger, D -- Perez-Ramirez, D -- Guerrero, M A -- French, J -- Melady, G -- Hanlon, L -- McBreen, B -- Leventis, K -- Markoff, S B -- Leon, S -- Kraus, A -- Aceituno, F J -- Cunniffe, R -- Kubanek, P -- Vitek, S -- Schulze, S -- Wilson, A C -- Hudec, R -- Durant, M -- Gonzalez-Perez, J M -- Shahbaz, T -- Guziy, S -- Pandey, S B -- Pavlenko, L -- Sonbas, E -- Trushkin, S A -- Bursov, N N -- Nizhelskij, N A -- Sanchez-Fernandez, C -- Sabau-Graziati, L -- England -- Nature. 2008 Sep 25;455(7212):506-9. doi: 10.1038/nature07328.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (IAA-CSIC), PO Box 03004, E-18080 Granada, Spain. ajct@iaa.es〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18818652" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are thought to result from the explosions of certain massive stars, and some are bright enough that they should be observable out to redshifts of z 〉 20 using current technology. Hitherto, the highest redshift measured for any object was z = 6.96, for a Lyman-alpha emitting galaxy. Here we report that GRB 090423 lies at a redshift of z approximately 8.2, implying that massive stars were being produced and dying as GRBs approximately 630 Myr after the Big Bang. The burst also pinpoints the location of its host galaxy.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tanvir, N R -- Fox, D B -- Levan, A J -- Berger, E -- Wiersema, K -- Fynbo, J P U -- Cucchiara, A -- Kruhler, T -- Gehrels, N -- Bloom, J S -- Greiner, J -- Evans, P A -- Rol, E -- Olivares, F -- Hjorth, J -- Jakobsson, P -- Farihi, J -- Willingale, R -- Starling, R L C -- Cenko, S B -- Perley, D -- Maund, J R -- Duke, J -- Wijers, R A M J -- Adamson, A J -- Allan, A -- Bremer, M N -- Burrows, D N -- Castro-Tirado, A J -- Cavanagh, B -- de Ugarte Postigo, A -- Dopita, M A -- Fatkhullin, T A -- Fruchter, A S -- Foley, R J -- Gorosabel, J -- Kennea, J -- Kerr, T -- Klose, S -- Krimm, H A -- Komarova, V N -- Kulkarni, S R -- Moskvitin, A S -- Mundell, C G -- Naylor, T -- Page, K -- Penprase, B E -- Perri, M -- Podsiadlowski, P -- Roth, K -- Rutledge, R E -- Sakamoto, T -- Schady, P -- Schmidt, B P -- Soderberg, A M -- Sollerman, J -- Stephens, A W -- Stratta, G -- Ukwatta, T N -- Watson, D -- Westra, E -- Wold, T -- Wolf, C -- England -- Nature. 2009 Oct 29;461(7268):1254-7. doi: 10.1038/nature08459.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. nrt3@star.le.ac.uk〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19865165" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most dramatic examples of massive stellar deaths, often associated with supernovae. They release ultra-relativistic jets, which produce non-thermal emission through synchrotron radiation as they interact with the surrounding medium. Here we report observations of the unusual GRB 101225A. Its gamma-ray emission was exceptionally long-lived and was followed by a bright X-ray transient with a hot thermal component and an unusual optical counterpart. During the first 10 days, the optical emission evolved as an expanding, cooling black body, after which an additional component, consistent with a faint supernova, emerged. We estimate its redshift to be z = 0.33 by fitting the spectral-energy distribution and light curve of the optical emission with a GRB-supernova template. Deep optical observations may have revealed a faint, unresolved host galaxy. Our proposed progenitor is a merger of a helium star with a neutron star that underwent a common envelope phase, expelling its hydrogen envelope. The resulting explosion created a GRB-like jet which became thermalized by interacting with the dense, previously ejected material, thus creating the observed black body, until finally the emission from the supernova dominated. An alternative explanation is a minor body falling onto a neutron star in the Galaxy.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Thone, C C -- de Ugarte Postigo, A -- Fryer, C L -- Page, K L -- Gorosabel, J -- Aloy, M A -- Perley, D A -- Kouveliotou, C -- Janka, H T -- Mimica, P -- Racusin, J L -- Krimm, H -- Cummings, J -- Oates, S R -- Holland, S T -- Siegel, M H -- De Pasquale, M -- Sonbas, E -- Im, M -- Park, W-K -- Kann, D A -- Guziy, S -- Garcia, L Hernandez -- Llorente, A -- Bundy, K -- Choi, C -- Jeong, H -- Korhonen, H -- Kubanek, P -- Lim, J -- Moskvitin, A -- Munoz-Darias, T -- Pak, S -- Parrish, I -- England -- Nature. 2011 Nov 30;480(7375):72-4. doi: 10.1038/nature10611.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉IAA - CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomia s/n, 18008 Granada, Spain. cthoene@iaa.es〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22129726" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are most probably powered by collimated relativistic outflows (jets) from accreting black holes at cosmological distances. Bright afterglows are produced when the outflow collides with the ambient medium. Afterglow polarization directly probes the magnetic properties of the jet when measured minutes after the burst, and it probes the geometric properties of the jet and the ambient medium when measured hours to days after the burst. High values of optical polarization detected minutes after the burst of GRB 120308A indicate the presence of large-scale ordered magnetic fields originating from the central engine (the power source of the GRB). Theoretical models predict low degrees of linear polarization and no circular polarization at late times, when the energy in the original ejecta is quickly transferred to the ambient medium and propagates farther into the medium as a blast wave. Here we report the detection of circularly polarized light in the afterglow of GRB 121024A, measured 0.15 days after the burst. We show that the circular polarization is intrinsic to the afterglow and unlikely to be produced by dust scattering or plasma propagation effects. A possible explanation is to invoke anisotropic (rather than the commonly assumed isotropic) electron pitch-angle distributions, and we suggest that new models are required to produce the complex microphysics of realistic shocks in relativistic jets.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Wiersema, K -- Covino, S -- Toma, K -- van der Horst, A J -- Varela, K -- Min, M -- Greiner, J -- Starling, R L C -- Tanvir, N R -- Wijers, R A M J -- Campana, S -- Curran, P A -- Fan, Y -- Fynbo, J P U -- Gorosabel, J -- Gomboc, A -- Gotz, D -- Hjorth, J -- Jin, Z P -- Kobayashi, S -- Kouveliotou, C -- Mundell, C -- O'Brien, P T -- Pian, E -- Rowlinson, A -- Russell, D M -- Salvaterra, R -- di Serego Alighieri, S -- Tagliaferri, G -- Vergani, S D -- Elliott, J -- Farina, C -- Hartoog, O E -- Karjalainen, R -- Klose, S -- Knust, F -- Levan, A J -- Schady, P -- Sudilovsky, V -- Willingale, R -- England -- Nature. 2014 May 8;509(7499):201-4. doi: 10.1038/nature13237. Epub 2014 Apr 30.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. ; INAF/Brera Astronomical Observatory, via Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate (LC), Italy. ; 1] Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka 560-0043, Japan [2] Astronomical Institute, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan [3] Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan. ; Astronomical Institute 'Anton Pannekoek', University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ; Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany. ; International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia. ; Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Science, Nanjing 210008, China. ; Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; 1] Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (IAA-CSIC), Glorieta de la Astronomia s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain [2] Unidad Asociada Grupo Ciencia Planetarias UPV/EHU-IAA/CSIC, Departamento de Fisica Aplicada I, ETS Ingenieria, Universidad del Pais Vasco UPV/EHU, Alameda de Urquijo s/n, E-48013 Bilbao, Spain [3] Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Alameda de Urquijo 36-5, E-48008 Bilbao, Spain. ; Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. ; AIM (UMR 7158 CEA/DSM-CNRS-Universite Paris Diderot) Irfu/Service d'Astrophysique, Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France. ; Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool Science Park, IC2 Building, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF, UK. ; Space Science Office, ZP12, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 35812, USA. ; 1] Scuola Normale Superiore, 7, I-56126 Pisa, Italy [2] INAF/IASF Bologna, via Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy. ; 1] Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain [2] Departamento de Astrofisica, Universidad de La Laguna, E-38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain [3] New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ; INAF/IASF Milano, via E. Bassini 15, 20133 Milano, Italy. ; INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze, Italy. ; Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Apartado de Correos 321, E-38700 Santa Cruz de la Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. ; Thuringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Sternwarte 5, 07778 Tautenburg, Germany. ; Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24776800" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉