Rastinejad, Jillian C. and Gompertz, Benjamin P. and Levan, Andrew J. and Fong, Wen-fai and Nicholl, Matt and Lamb, Gavin P. and Malesani, Daniele B. and Nugent, Anya E. and Oates, Samantha R. and Tanvir, Nial R. and Postigo, Antonio de Ugarte and Kilpatrick, Charles D. and Moore, Christopher J. and Metzger, Brian D. and Ravasio, Maria Edvige and Rossi, Andrea and Schroeder, Genevieve and Jencson, Jacob and Sand, David J. and Smith, Nathan and Fernández, José Feliciano Agüí and Berger, Edo and Blanchard, Peter K. and Chornock, Ryan and Cobb, Bethany E. and Pasquale, Massimiliano De and Fynbo, Johan P. U. and Izzo, Luca and Kann, D. Alexander and Laskar, Tanmoy and Marini, Ester and Paterson, Kerry and Escorial, Alicia Rouco and Sears, Huei M. and Thöne, Christina C. (2022) A kilonova following a long-duration gamma-ray burst at 350 Mpc. Nature, 612. pp. 223-227. ISSN 0028-0836
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are divided into two populations1,2; long GRBs that derive from the core collapse of massive stars (for example, ref. 3) and short GRBs that form in the merger of two compact objects4,5. Although it is common to divide the two populations at a gamma-ray duration of 2 s, classification based on duration does not always map to the progenitor. Notably, GRBs with short (≲2 s) spikes of prompt gamma-ray emission followed by prolonged, spectrally softer extended emission (EE-SGRBs) have been suggested to arise from compact object mergers6,7,8. Compact object mergers are of great astrophysical importance as the only confirmed site of rapid neutron capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis, observed in the form of so-called kilonovae9,10,11,12,13,14. Here we report the discovery of a possible kilonova associated with the nearby (350 Mpc), minute-duration GRB 211211A. The kilonova implies that the progenitor is a compact object merger, suggesting that GRBs with long, complex light curves can be spawned from merger events. The kilonova of GRB 211211A has a similar luminosity, duration and colour to that which accompanied the gravitational wave (GW)-detected binary neutron star (BNS) merger GW170817 (ref. 4). Further searches for GW signals coincident with long GRBs are a promising route for future multi-messenger astronomy.