Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Scientific paper
2011-01-18
Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 414 (2011) 479-488
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
11 pages, 9 figures, submitted to MNRAS
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18408.x
Long duration gamma-ray bursts are commonly associated with the deaths of massive stars. Spectroscopic studies using the afterglow as a light source provide a unique opportunity to unveil the medium surrounding it, probing the densest region of their galaxies. This material is usually in a low ionisation state and at large distances from the burst site, hence representing the normal interstellar medium in the galaxy. Here we present the case of GRB 090426 at z=2.609, whose optical spectrum indicates an almost fully ionised medium together with a low column density of neutral hydrogen. For the first time, we also observe variations in the Ly alpha absorption line. Photoionisation modeling shows that we are probing material from the vicinity of the burst (~80 pc). The host galaxy is a complex of two luminous interacting galaxies, which might suggest that this burst could have occurred in an isolated star-forming region outside its host galaxy created in the interaction of the two galaxies.
Aloy Miguel A.
Campana Sergio
Christensen Lars Lindberg
Dahle Haakon
de Ugarte Postigo Antonio
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