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GRB 021211 as a Faint Analogue of GRB 990123: Exploring the Similarities and Differences in the Optical AfterglowsWe present BVR(sub c)JHK(sub s) photometry of the optical afterglow of the gamma-ray burst GRB 021211 taken at the Magellan, MMT, and WIYN observatories between 0.7 and 50 days after the burst. We find an intrinsic spectral slope at optical and near-infrared wavelengths of 0.69 +/- 0.14 at 0.87 days. The optical decay during the first day is almost identical to that of GRB 990123 except that GRB 021211's optical afterglow was intrinsically approximately 38 times fainter and the transition from the reverse shock to the forward shock may have occurred earlier than it did for GRB 990123. We find no evidence for a jet break or the cooling break passing through optical frequencies during the first day after the burst. There is weak evidence for a break in the J-band decay between 0.89 and 1.87 days which may be due to a jet. The optical and infrared data are consistent with a relativistic fireball where the shocked electrons are in the slow cooling regime and the electron index is 2.3 +/- 0.1. The burst appears to have occurred in a homogeneous ambient medium. Our analysis suggests that the jet of GRB 021211 may have a small opening angle (1.4 deg-4.4 deg) and that the total gamma-ray energy is much less than the canonical value of 1.33 x 10(exp 51) erg. If, this is the case then most of the energy of the burst may be in another form such as a frozen magnetic field, in supernova ejecta, or in a second jet component. The host galaxy of GRB 021211 is subluminous and has a star formation rate of at least 1 solar mass/yr.
Document ID
20040105570
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Holland, Stephen T. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Bersier, David (Space Telescope Science Inst. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Bloom, J. S. (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Garnavich, Peter M. (Notre Dame Univ. IN, United States)
Caldwell, Nelson (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Challis, Peter (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Kirshner, Robert (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Luhman, Kevin (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
McLeod, Brian (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Stanek, K. Z. (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2004
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG5-9364
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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