Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-04-13
Astrophys.J.653:468-473,2006
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
10 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to The Astrophysical Journal 13 April 2006, accepted 7 August 2006. This revision is the accept
Scientific paper
10.1086/508740
We report the best evidence to date of a jet break in a short Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) afterglow, using Chandra and Swift XRT observations of the X-ray afterglow of GRB 051221A. The combined X-ray light curve, which has three breaks, is similar to those commonly observed in Swift observations of long GRBs. A flat segment of the light curve at ~0.1 days after the burst represents the first clear case of strong energy injection in the external shock of a short GRB afterglow. The last break occurs at ~4 days post-burst and breaks to a power-law decay index of ~2. We interpret this as a jet break, with important implications for models of short GRBs, since it requires collimation of the afterglow into a jet with an initial opening angle ~4-8 degrees and implies a total jet kinetic energy of E_jet ~(1-5) x 10^{49} erg. Combined with the lack of a jet break in GRB 050724, this suggests a wide range in jet collimation in short GRBs, with at least some having collimation similar to that found in long GRBs, though with significantly lower jet energies.
Burrows David N.
Capalbi Milvia
Chincarini Guido
Gehrels Neil
Grupe Dirk
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