ALBERT

Description: We report on the discovery of the optical afterglow of the X-ray rich, long-duration gamma-ray burst GRB 011211, and the oscillatory behavior present in its optical and X-ray afterglow light curve. The time scale of the fluctuations, -1 hour, is much smaller than the time of the observations, -12 hours from the onset of the gamma-ray burst. The character and strength of the fluctuations visible in the optical data are unprecedented, and are inconsistent with causally connected variations in the emission of a symmetric, relativistic blast wave. Moreover, the differential time lag between the short-term variations in X-ray and optical energies suggests they do not arise from the same emitting region. Such variability may imply that local spherical symmetry is broken because the energy content across the jet-emitting surface is not uniform, indicating the detection of a small scale substructure within the jet itself.

Description: We report on follow-up observations of the gamma-ray burst GRB 060927 using the robotic ROTSE-IIIa telescope and a suite of larger aperture groundbased telescopes. An optical afterglow was detected 20 s after the burst, the earliest rest-frame detection of optical emission from any GRB. Spectroscopy performed with the VLT about 13 hours after the trigger shows a continuum break at lambda approx. equals 8070 A, produced by neutral hydrogen absorption at zeta = 5.6. We also detect an absorption line at 8158 A which we interpret as Si II lambda 1260 at zeta = 5.467. Hence, GRB 060927 is the second most distant GRB with a spectroscopically measured redshift. The shape of the red wing of the spectral break can be fitted by a damped Ly(alpha) profile with a column density with log(N(sub HI)/sq cm) = 22.50 +/- 0.15. We discuss the implications of this work for the use of GRBs as probes of the end of the dark ages and draw three main conclusions: i) GRB afterglows originating from zeta greater than or approx. equal to 6 should be relatively easy to detect from the ground, but rapid near-infrared monitoring is necessary to ensure that they are found; ii) The presence of large H I column densities in some GRBs host galaxies at zeta 〉 5 makes the use of GRBs to probe the reionization epoch via spectroscopy of the red damping wing challenging; iii) GRBs appear crucial to locate typical star-forming galaxies at zeta 〉 5 and therefore the type of galaxies responsible for the reionization of the universe.

Description: We present our successful program using Chandra for identifying the X-ray afterglow with sub-arcsecond accuracy for the short GRB 111117A d iscovered by Swift and Fermi. Thanks to our rapid target of opportuni ty request, Chandra clearly detected the X-ray afterglow, whereas no optical afterglow was found in deep optical observations. Instead, we clearly detect the host galaxy in optica; and also in near-infrared b ands. We found that the best photometric redshift fitofthe host is z = 1.31:(+0.46/-0.23) (90% confidence), making it one of the highest redshift short GRBs. Furthermore, we see an offset of 1.0+/-O.2 arcseco nds, which corresponds to 8.4+/-1.7 kpc aSBuming z= 1.31, between the host and the afterglow position. We discuss the importance of using Chandra for obtaining sub-arcsecond localization of the afterglow in X -rays for short GRBs to study GRB environments in great detail.

Description: We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the exceptionally bright and luminous Swift gamma-ray burst, GRB 130427A. At z=0.34 this burst affords an excellent opportunity to study the supernova and host galaxy associated with an intrinsically extremely luminous burst (E(sub iso) greater than 10(exp 54) erg): more luminous than any previous GRB with a spectroscopically associated supernova. We use the combination of the image quality, UV capability and and invariant PSF of HST to provide the best possible separation of the afterglow, host and supernova contributions to the observed light approximately 17 rest-frame days after the burst utilising a host subtraction spectrum obtained 1 year later. Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) grism observations show that the associated supernova, SN 2013cq, has an overall spectral shape and luminosity similar to SN 1998bw (with a photospheric velocity, vph approximately 15,000 kilometers per second). The positions of the bluer features are better matched by the higher velocity SN 2010bh (vph approximately 30,000 kilometers per second), but SN 2010bh (vph approximately 30,000 kilometers per second but this SN is significantly fainter, and fails to reproduce the overall spectral shape, perhaps indicative of velocity structure in the ejecta. We find that the burst originated approximately 4 kpc from the nucleus of a moderately star forming (1 Solar Mass yr(exp-1)), possibly interacting disc galaxy. The absolute magnitude, physical size and morphology of this galaxy, as well as the location of the GRB within it are also strikingly similar to those of GRB980425SN 1998bw. The similarity of supernovae and environment from both the most luminous and least luminous GRBs suggests broadly similar progenitor stars can create GRBs across six orders of magnitude in isotropic energy.

Description: We introduce the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxy Legacy Survey (SHOALS), a multi-observatory high redshift galaxy survey targeting the largest unbiased sample of long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) hosts yet assembled (119 in total). We describe the motivations of the survey and the development of our selection criteria, including an assessment of the impact of various observability metrics on the success rate of afterglow-based redshift measurement. We briefly outline our host galaxy observational program, consisting of deep Spitzer/IRAC imaging of every field supplemented by similarly deep, multicolor optical/near-IR photometry, plus spectroscopy of events without preexisting redshifts. Our optimized selection cuts combined with host galaxy follow-up have so far enabled redshift measurements for 110 targets (92%) and placed upper limits on all but one of the remainder. About 20% of GRBs in the sample are heavily dust obscured, and at most 2% originate from z 〉 5.5. Using this sample, we estimate the redshift-dependent GRB rate density, showing it to peak at z approx. 2.5 and fall by at least an order of magnitude toward low (z = 0) redshift, while declining more gradually toward high (z approx. 7) redshift. This behavior is consistent with a progenitor whose formation efficiency varies modestly over cosmic history. Our survey will permit the most detailed examination to date of the connection between the GRB host population and general star-forming galaxies, directly measure evolution in the host population over cosmic time and discern its causes, and provide new constraints on the fraction of cosmic star formation occurring in undetectable galaxies at all redshifts.