Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2008-05-11
Nature 455:183-188,2008
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
43 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Nature May 11, 2008
Scientific paper
10.1038/natur=
Long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) release copious amounts of energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and so provide a window into the process of black hole formation from the collapse of a massive star. Over the last forty years, our understanding of the GRB phenomenon has progressed dramatically; nevertheless, fortuitous circumstances occasionally arise that provide access to a regime not yet probed. GRB 080319B presented such an opportunity, with extraordinarily bright prompt optical emission that peaked at a visual magnitude of 5.3, making it briefly visible with the naked eye. It was captured in exquisite detail by wide-field telescopes, imaging the burst location from before the time of the explosion. The combination of these unique optical data with simultaneous gamma-ray observations provides powerful diagnostics of the detailed physics of this explosion within seconds of its formation. Here we show that the prompt optical and gamma-ray emissions from this event likely arise from different spectral components within the same physical region located at a large distance from the source, implying an extremely relativistic outflow. The chromatic behaviour of the broadband afterglow is consistent with viewing the GRB down the very narrow inner core of a two-component jet that is expanding into a wind-like environment consistent with the massive star origin of long GRBs. These circumstances can explain the extreme properties of this GRB.
Aptekar' R. L.
Barthelmy Scott
Bartolini Corrado
Beardmore Andrew
Beskin Gregory M.
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