Gamma-ray burst afterglows as probes of environment and blast wave physics. I. Absorption by host-galaxy gas and dust
We use a new approach to obtain limits on the absorbing columns toward an initial sample of 10 long gamma-ray bursts observed with BeppoSAX and selected on the basis of their good optical and near-infrared (NIR) coverage, from simultaneous fits to NIR, optical, and X-ray afterglow data, in count spa...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Institute of Physics Publishing
2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/661/2/787/pdf/0004-637X_661_2_787.pdf http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11067 |
| _version_ | 1848747706300760064 |
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| author | Starling, R. Wijers, R. Wiersema, K. Rol, E. Curran, Peter Kouveliotou, C. van der Horst, A. Heemskerk, M. |
| author_facet | Starling, R. Wijers, R. Wiersema, K. Rol, E. Curran, Peter Kouveliotou, C. van der Horst, A. Heemskerk, M. |
| author_sort | Starling, R. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | We use a new approach to obtain limits on the absorbing columns toward an initial sample of 10 long gamma-ray bursts observed with BeppoSAX and selected on the basis of their good optical and near-infrared (NIR) coverage, from simultaneous fits to NIR, optical, and X-ray afterglow data, in count space and including the effects of metallicity. In no cases is a Milky Way-like ( MW) extinction preferred when testing MW, LMC, and SMC extinction laws. The 2175 angstrom bump would in principle be detectable in all these afterglows, but is not present in the data. An SMC-like gas-to-dust ratio or lower value can be ruled out for four of the hosts analyzed here ( assuming SMC metallicity and extinction law), while the remainder of the sample have too large an error to discriminate. We provide a more accurate estimate of the line-of-sight extinction and improve on the uncertainties for the majority of the extinction measurements made in previous studies of this sample. We discuss this method for determining extinction values in comparison with the most commonly employed existing methods. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:53:24Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-11067 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:53:24Z |
| publishDate | 2007 |
| publisher | Institute of Physics Publishing |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-110672017-09-13T14:53:18Z Gamma-ray burst afterglows as probes of environment and blast wave physics. I. Absorption by host-galaxy gas and dust Starling, R. Wijers, R. Wiersema, K. Rol, E. Curran, Peter Kouveliotou, C. van der Horst, A. Heemskerk, M. gamma rays : bursts galaxies : ISM We use a new approach to obtain limits on the absorbing columns toward an initial sample of 10 long gamma-ray bursts observed with BeppoSAX and selected on the basis of their good optical and near-infrared (NIR) coverage, from simultaneous fits to NIR, optical, and X-ray afterglow data, in count space and including the effects of metallicity. In no cases is a Milky Way-like ( MW) extinction preferred when testing MW, LMC, and SMC extinction laws. The 2175 angstrom bump would in principle be detectable in all these afterglows, but is not present in the data. An SMC-like gas-to-dust ratio or lower value can be ruled out for four of the hosts analyzed here ( assuming SMC metallicity and extinction law), while the remainder of the sample have too large an error to discriminate. We provide a more accurate estimate of the line-of-sight extinction and improve on the uncertainties for the majority of the extinction measurements made in previous studies of this sample. We discuss this method for determining extinction values in comparison with the most commonly employed existing methods. 2007 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11067 10.1086/511953 http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/661/2/787/pdf/0004-637X_661_2_787.pdf Institute of Physics Publishing unknown |
| spellingShingle | gamma rays : bursts galaxies : ISM Starling, R. Wijers, R. Wiersema, K. Rol, E. Curran, Peter Kouveliotou, C. van der Horst, A. Heemskerk, M. Gamma-ray burst afterglows as probes of environment and blast wave physics. I. Absorption by host-galaxy gas and dust |
| title | Gamma-ray burst afterglows as probes of environment and blast wave physics. I. Absorption by host-galaxy gas and dust |
| title_full | Gamma-ray burst afterglows as probes of environment and blast wave physics. I. Absorption by host-galaxy gas and dust |
| title_fullStr | Gamma-ray burst afterglows as probes of environment and blast wave physics. I. Absorption by host-galaxy gas and dust |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gamma-ray burst afterglows as probes of environment and blast wave physics. I. Absorption by host-galaxy gas and dust |
| title_short | Gamma-ray burst afterglows as probes of environment and blast wave physics. I. Absorption by host-galaxy gas and dust |
| title_sort | gamma-ray burst afterglows as probes of environment and blast wave physics. i. absorption by host-galaxy gas and dust |
| topic | gamma rays : bursts galaxies : ISM |
| url | http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/661/2/787/pdf/0004-637X_661_2_787.pdf http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11067 |