A Morphological Study of Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxies

Mathematics – Logic

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

1

Scientific paper

We present a comprehensive study of the morphological properties of 42 γ -ray burst (GRB) host galaxies imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope in the optical band. The purpose of this study is to understand the relation of GRBs to their macro-environments, and to compare the GRB-selected galaxies to other high redshift samples. We perform both qualitative and quantitative analyses by categorizing the galaxies according to their visual properties, and by examining their surface brightness profiles. We find that all of the galaxies have approximately exponential profiles, indicative of galactic disks, and have a median scale length of about 1.7 kpc. Inspection of the visual morphologies reveals a high fraction of merging and interacting systems, with ˜ 30% showing clear signs of interaction, and an additional 30% exhibiting irregular and asymmetric structure which may be the result of recent mergers; these fractions are independent of redshift and galaxy luminosity. On the other hand, the three GRB host galaxies for which submillimeter and radio emission has been detected are isolated and compact, unlike the luminous submillimeter-selected galaxies. The fraction of mergers appears to be elevated compared to other high redshift samples, particularly for the low luminosities of GRB hosts (MB ˜ -16 to -21 mag). This suggests that merging and interacting galaxies undergoing a burst of star formation may be an efficient site for the production of GRB progenitors. Finally, we show that GRB hosts clearly follow the size-luminosity relation present in other galaxy samples, but thanks to absorption redshifts they help extend this relation to lower luminosities.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

A Morphological Study of Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxies does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with A Morphological Study of Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Morphological Study of Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1278206

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.