Williams, Maia A. and Kennea, Jamie A. and Dichiara, S. and Kobayashi, Kohei and Iwakiri, Wataru B. and Beardmore, Andrew P. and Evans, P. A. and Heinz, Sebastian and Lien, Amy and Oates, S. R. and Negoro, Hitoshi and Cenko, S. Bradley and Buisson, Douglas J. K. and Hartmann, Dieter H. and Jaisawal, Gaurava K. and Kuin, N. P. M. and Lesage, Stephen and Page, Kim L. and Parsotan, Tyler and Pasham, Dheeraj R. and Sbarufatti, B. and Siegel, Michael H. and Sugita, Satoshi and Younes, George and Ambrosi, Elena and Arzoumanian, Zaven and Bernardini, M. G. and Campana, S. and Capalbi, Milvia and Caputo, Regina and D’Aì, Antonino and D’Avanzo, P. and D’Elia, V. and Pasquale, Massimiliano De and Eyles-Ferris, R. A. J. and Ferrara, Elizabeth and Gendreau, Keith C. and Gropp, Jeffrey D. and Kawai, Nobuyuki and Klingler, Noel and Laha, Sibasish and Melandri, A. and Mihara, Tatehiro and Moss, Michael and O’Brien, Paul and Osborne, Julian P. and Palmer, David M. and Perri, Matteo and Serino, Motoko and Sonbas, E. and Stamatikos, Michael and Starling, Rhaana and Tagliaferri, G. and Tohuvavohu, Aaron and Zane, Silvia and Ziaeepour, Houri (2023) GRB 221009A : Discovery of an Exceptionally Rare Nearby and Energetic Gamma-Ray Burst. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 946 (1): L24.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
We report the discovery of the unusually bright long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB), GRB221009A, as observed by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (Swift), Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image, and Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer Mission. This energetic GRB was located relatively nearby (z=0.151), allowing for sustained observations of the afterglow. The large x-ray luminosity and low Galactic latitude (b=4°.3) make GRB221009A a powerful probe of dust in the Milky Way. Using echo tomography, we map the line-of-sight dust distribution and find evidence for significant column densities at large distances(≥10kpc). We present analysis of the light curves and spectra at X-ray and UV–optical wavelengths, and find that the X-ray afterglow of GRB221009A is more than an order of magnitude brighter at T0+4.5 ks than that from any previous GRB observed by Swift. In its restframe, GRB221009A is at the high end of the afterglow luminosity distribution, but not uniquely so. In a simulation of randomly generated bursts, only 1 in 104 long GRBs were as energetic as GRB221009A; such a large Eγ,iso implies a narrow jet structure, but the afterglow lightcurve is inconsistent with simple top-hat jet models. Using the sample of Swift GRBs with redshifts, we estimate that GRBs as energetic and nearby as GRB221009A occur at a rate of ≤1 per 1000yr-1 making this a truly remarkable opportunity unlikely to be repeated in our lifetime.