Microlensing and the Surface Brightness Profile of the Afterglow Image of GRB 000301C

Details Microlensing and the Surface Brightness Profile of the Afterglow Image of GRB 000301C Microlensing and the Surface Brightness Profile of the Afterglow Image of GRB 000301C

2001-05-15

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0105240v2

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

14 pages, including 3 figures and 1 Table, very minor changes. Accepted to ApJ main journal. To appear in the November 1, 2001

Scientific paper

10.1086/323244

The optical afterglow of Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) 000301C exhibited a significant, short-timescale deviation from the power-law flux decline expected in the standard synchrotron shock model. Garnavich, Loeb & Stanek found that this deviation was well-fit by an ad hoc model in which a thin ring of emission is microlensed by an intervening star. We revisit the microlensing interpretation of this variability, first by testing whether microlensing of afterglow images with realistic surface brightness profiles (SBPs) can fit the data, and second by directly inverting the observed light curve to obtain a non-parametric measurement of the SBP. We find that microlensing of realistic SBPs can reproduce the observed deviation, provided that the optical emission arises from frequencies above the cooling break. Conversely, if the variability is indeed caused by microlensing, the SBP must be significantly limb-brightened. Specifically, greater than 60% of the flux must originate from the outer 25% of the area of the afterglow image. The latter requirement is satisfied by the best fit theoretical SBP. The underlying optical/infrared afterglow lightcurve is consistent with a model in which a jet is propagating into a uniform medium with the cooling break frequency below the optical band.

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