The Case for a High-Redshift Origin of GRB100205A
Abstract
The number of long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) known to have occurred in the distant Universe (z greater than 5) is small (approx 15), however these events provide a powerful way of probing star formation at the onset of galaxy evolution. In this paper, we present the case for GRB100205A being a largely overlooked high-redshift event. While initially noted as a high-z candidate, this event and its host galaxy have not been explored in detail. By combining optical and near-infrared Gemini afterglow imaging (at t less than 1.3 days since burst) with deep late-time limits on host emission from the Hubble Space Telescope, we show that the most likely scenario is that GRB100205A arose in the redshift range 4-8. GRB100205A is an example of a burst whose afterglow, even at 1 hour post-burst, could only be identified by 8m class IR observations, and suggests that such observations of all optically dark bursts may be necessary to significantly enhance the number of high-redshift GRBs known.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1907.00213,
title = {The Case for a High-Redshift Origin of GRB100205A},
author = {A. A. Chrimes and A. J. Levan and E. R. Stanway and E. Berger and J. S. Bloom and S. B. Cenko and B. E. Cobb and A. Cucchiara and A. S. Fruchter and B. P. Gompertz and J. Hjorth and P. Jakobsson and J. D. Lyman and P. O'Brien and D. A. Perley and N. R. Tanvir and P. J. Wheatley and K. Wiersema},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.00213},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in MNRAS