Teraelectronvolt emission from the $\gamma$-ray burst GRB 190114C
Abstract
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) of the long-duration class are the most luminous sources of electromagnetic radiation known in the Universe. They are generated by outflows of plasma ejected at near the speed of light by newly formed neutron stars or black holes of stellar mass at cosmological distances. Prompt flashes of MeV gamma rays are followed by longer-lasting afterglow emission from radio waves to GeV gamma rays, due to synchrotron radiation by energetic electrons in accompanying shock waves. Although emission of gamma rays at even higher, TeV energies by other radiation mechanisms had been theoretically predicted, it had never been detected previously. Here we report the clear detection of GRB 190114C in the TeV band, achieved after many years of dedicated searches for TeV emission from GRBs. Gamma rays in the energy range 0.2--1 TeV are observed from about 1 minute after the burst (at more than 50 standard deviations in the first 20 minutes). This unambiguously reveals a new emission component in the afterglow of a GRB, whose power is comparable to that of the synchrotron component. The observed similarity in the radiated power and temporal behaviour of the TeV and X-ray bands points to processes such as inverse Compton radiation as the mechanism of the TeV emission, while processes such as synchrotron emission by ultrahigh-energy protons are disfavoured due to their low radiative efficiency.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2006.07249,
title = {Teraelectronvolt emission from the $\gamma$-ray burst GRB 190114C},
author = {MAGIC Collaboration and V. A. Acciari and S. Ansoldi and L. A. Antonelli and A. Arbet Engels and D. Baack and A. Babić and B. Banerjee and U. Barres de Almeida and J. A. Barrio and J. Becerra González and W. Bednarek and L. Bellizzi and E. Bernardini and A. Berti and J. Besenrieder and W. Bhattacharyya and C. Bigongiari and A. Biland and O. Blanch and G. Bonnoli and Ž. Bošnjak and G. Busetto and A. Carosi and R. Carosi and G. Ceribella and Y. Chai and A. Chilingaryan and S. Cikota and S. M. Colak and U. Colin and E. Colombo and J. L. Contreras and J. Cortina and S. Covino and G. D'Amico and V. D'Elia and P. Da Vela and F. Dazzi and A. De Angelis and B. De Lotto and M. Delfino and J. Delgado and D. Depaoli and F. Di Pierro and L. Di Venere and E. Do Souto Espiñeira and D. Dominis Prester and A. Donini and D. Dorner and M. Doro and D. Elsaesser and V. Fallah Ramazani and A. Fattorini and A. Fernández-Barral and G. Ferrara and D. Fidalgo and L. Foffano and M. V. Fonseca and L. Font and C. Fruck and S. Fukami and S. Gallozzi and R. J. García López and M. Garczarczyk and S. Gasparyan and M. Gaug and N. Giglietto and F. Giordano and N. Godinović and D. Green and D. Guberman and D. Hadasch and A. Hahn and J. Herrera and J. Hoang and D. Hrupec and M. Hütten and T. Inada and S. Inoue and K. Ishio and Y. Iwamura and L. Jouvin and D. Kerszberg and H. Kubo and J. Kushida and A. Lamastra and D. Lelas and F. Leone and E. Lindfors and S. Lombardi and F. Longo and M. López and R. López-Coto and A. López-Oramas and S. Loporchio and B. Machado de Oliveira Fraga and C. Maggio and P. Majumdar and M. Makariev and M. Mallamaci and G. Maneva and M. Manganaro and K. Mannheim and L. Maraschi and M. Mariotti and M. Martínez and S. Masuda and D. Mazin and S. Mićanović and D. Miceli and M. Minev and J. M. Miranda and R. Mirzoyan and E. Molina and A. Moralejo and D. Morcuende and V. Moreno and E. Moretti and P. Munar-Adrover and V. Neustroev and C. Nigro and K. Nilsson and D. Ninci and K. Nishijima and K. Noda and L. Nogués and M. Nöthe and S. Nozaki and S. Paiano and J. Palacio and M. Palatiello and D. Paneque and R. Paoletti and J. M. Paredes and P. Peñil and M. Peresano and M. Persic and P. G. Prada Moroni and E. Prandini and I. Puljak and W. Rhode and M. Ribó and J. Rico and C. Righi and A. Rugliancich and L. Saha and N. Sahakyan and T. Saito and S. Sakurai and K. Satalecka and K. Schmidt and T. Schweizer and J. Sitarek and I. Šnidarić and D. Sobczynska and A. Somero and A. Stamerra and D. Strom and M. Strzys and Y. Suda and T. Surić and M. Takahashi and F. Tavecchio and P. Temnikov and T. Terzić and M. Teshima and N. Torres-Albà and L. Tosti and S. Tsujimoto and V. Vagelli and J. van Scherpenberg and G. Vanzo and M. Vazquez Acosta and C. F. Vigorito and V. Vitale and I. Vovk and M. Will and D. Zarić and L. Nava},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.07249},
year = {2020}
}