GRB 050509b: the elusive optical/nIR/mm afterglow of a short-duration GRB
Abstract
We present multiwavelength (optical/near infrared/millimetre) observations of a short duration gamma-ray burst detected by Swift (GRB 050509b) collected between 0 seconds and ~18.8 days after the event. No optical, near infrared or millimetre emission has been detected in spite of the well localised X-ray afterglow, confirming the elusiveness of the short duration events. We also discuss the possibility of the burst being located in a cluster of galaxies at z= 0.225 or beyond. In the former case, the spectral energy distribution of the neighbouring, potential host galaxy, favours a system harbouring an evolved dominant stellar population (age ~360 Myr), unlike most long duration GRB host galaxies observed so far, i.e. thus giving support to a compact binary merger origin. Any underlying supernova that could be associated with this particular event should have been at least 3 magnitudes fainter than the type Ib/c SN 1998bw and 2.3 magnitudes fainter than a typical type Ia SN.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0506662,
title = {GRB 050509b: the elusive optical/nIR/mm afterglow of a short-duration GRB},
author = {A. J. Castro-Tirado and A. de Ugarte Postigo and J. Gorosabel and T. Fatkhullin and V. Sokolov and M. Bremer and I. Márquez and A. J. Marin and S. Guziy and M. Jelinek and P. Kubanek and R. Hudec and S. Vitek and T. J. Mateo Sanguino and A. Eigenbrod and M. D. Pérez-Ramírez and A. Sota and J. Masegosa and F. Prada and M. Moles},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0506662},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in A&A letters