Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002aas...201.6902b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 201st AAS Meeting, #69.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 34, p.1220
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The optical afterglow of GRB 020813 was observed for 3 hours with the LRIS spectropolarimeter at the Keck-I telescope, beginning 4.7 hours after the burst was detected by HETE. This is the first spectropolarimetry data ever obtained for a GRB afterglow. The spectrum reveals numerous metal absorption lines that we identify with two systems at z=1.223 and z=1.254, constraining the GRB itself to lie at z >= 1.254. We also detect an [O II] λ3727 emission line at the same redshift as the more distant absorption system, and we identify the galaxy at z=1.254 as the likely host of the GRB. Over the wavelength range 3500-8800 Å, the afterglow emission has a linear polarization of 2.4-3.1%. After correcting for Galactic interstellar polarization, we find p = 1.9-2.4% at a position angle of 150-160 degrees, with some evidence for wavelength-dependent polarization variability during the 3 hours of observation. We will discuss how this dataset can constrain models for GRB afterglow emission and polarization.
Barth Aaron J.
Bloom Josh S.
Cohen Morrel H.
Fox Derek W.
Goodrich Robert W.
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